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The Rise · HBCU

Allen University

School colors: Royal Blue & Gold

Chappelle Administration Building, Allen University (Columbia)
Historic photograph. Van Jones Martin, 1980, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Columbia, South Carolina · Founded 1870

Private · Four-year · ~680 students

www.allenuniversity.edu · official site

Founding

Allen University was founded by the African Methodist Episcopal Church in South Carolina under Bishop John M. Brown on July 29, 1870, on 150 acres purchased in Cokesbury. The school was first named Payne Institute in honor of Bishop Daniel A. Payne.

Source: History of Allen University, read 2026-09-14.

On the official record

Campus address
1530 Harden Street, Columbia, SC 29204
Control
Private not-for-profit
Students
~680 students
Directory id
217624
OPE id
00341700
Student aid
Takes part in Title IV student aid
Title III Part B list, FY 2026
Listed
Location
1530 Harden Street, Columbia, SC. See it on the Ledger map.
Where this location comes fromCampus location from IPEDS 2024-25This campus location comes from the federal IPEDS 2024-25 record, used as published, so the pin on the map is the campus.IPEDS Institutional Characteristics, Directory information (HD2024), 2024-25 collection, file dated 2025-09-21, retrieved 2026-09-14: coordinate 34.010348, -81.020045 as published. The Census Bureau geocoder also matched this address exactly on 2026-09-14.

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Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. IPEDS Institutional Characteristics, Directory information (HD2024), 2024-25 provisional data collection. Unit id 217624. https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/data/HD2024.zip. File dated 2025-09-21.
  2. U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education. Higher Education Programs Eligibility Matrix, sheet 'HBCU', dated 2026-06-08. https://www.ed.gov/media/document/fy-2026-higher-education-programs-eligibility-matrix-june-8-2026-114185.xlsx.
  3. History of Allen University. https://allenuniversity.edu/our-history. Read 2026-09-14.
  4. Students: 677 total, Fall 2023 (635 undergraduate, 42 graduate). IPEDS Fall Enrollment 2023, derived variables (DRVEF2023). https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/datacenter/data/DRVEF2023.zip. File dated 2024-09-30, read 2026-09-17.
  5. School colors: Royal Blue & Gold. Values as stated. Allen University, Wikipedia (revision 1372275631). Read 2026-09-16.
  6. Photograph: Van Jones Martin, 1980, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chappelle_Administration_Building,_Allen_University_(Columbia).jpg. Retrieved 2026-09-16.
  7. U.S. Census Bureau Geocoder, batch address service, benchmark Public_AR_Current. https://geocoding.geo.census.gov/geocoder/.

Enrollment is the official 2023 count, rounded. Tap a school for its source.

Machine-readable: /api/v1/hbcus/allen-university · All HBCUs

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