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Santa Clara College, Santa Clara, Cal.

"The first two colleges in California were founded at the height of the Gold Rush in 1851, both in the small agricultural town of Santa Clara. Less than a year after California was granted statehood, Santa Clara College, forerunner of Santa Clara University, was the first to open its doors to students and thus is considered the state’s oldest operating institution of higher education. Shortly after Santa Clara began instruction, the Methodist-run California Wesleyan College received a charter from the State Superior Court on July 10, 1851—the first granted in California—and it began enrolling students in May of the following year. Santa Clara’s Jesuit founders lacked the $20,000 endowment required for a charter, which was eventually accumulated and a charter granted on April 28, 1855. Santa Clara bears the distinction of awarding California’s first bachelor's degree, bestowed upon Thomas I. Bergin in 1857, as well as its first graduate degree granted two years later." wikipedia



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