Madison’s Edgewood College Changes Name, Becomes Edgewood University

by Will DeFour, age 15

Edgewood College, home to about 2,500 students, will rename itself Edgewood University. This change marks nearly a century of Edgewood educating students. The change will become official on July 1st, 2025, before the start of the 2025 fall semester.

Edgewood president Andrew Manion said, “As we position the institution to flourish in our second century, the time is right to celebrate by making this change to honor our past and embrace our future.”

Though there is no official point at which a college becomes a university, there are several trends. Universities are often larger, some with over 10,000 students. These schools also offer both graduate and undergraduate degrees, often focusing on research-based work. The most prestigious of these schools are the Ivy League schools, which include Harvard, Yale, and Princeton.

Colleges are often smaller in size, with fewer students and courses. They often focus on undergraduate education and are less research-based. There are liberal arts colleges that offer many subjects for each student, rather than honing a particular skill or process. Despite its name, Edgewood has followed the trends of a university for the last 39 years when it added graduate degrees in education, religious studies, and business administration in 1986.

Fifteen years after its master’s degrees were implemented, Edgewood took its next step by adding doctoral degrees in educational leadership, nursing, and business administration. This year, a Doctor of Occupational Therapy will be added to the list of offered degrees.

Edgewood’s name change signifies the dawn of a new era. This local institution now steps into its next century of prestigious education.

[Sources: U.S. News & World Report; Edgewood College]