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The Rise · HBCU

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania

School colors: Blue & white

Cheyney Library
Smallbones at English Wikipedia, 10 November 2009 (original upload date), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Cheyney, Pennsylvania · Founded 1837

Public · Four-year · ~720 students

www.cheyney.edu · official site

Founding

Cheyney University of Pennsylvania dates its founding to February 25, 1837, and states that it is the nation's first historically Black college or university, established through the bequest of Richard Humphreys, a Quaker philanthropist. Cheyney State College became Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1983, the oldest institution in the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education.

Source: The First HBCU, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, read 2026-09-14.

What the school says about itself

On the record
  • Home to the nation's oldest HBCU, we provide diverse perspectives, thoughtful opinions, and tangible results. Source, read 2026-09-17.

On the official record

Campus address
1837 University Circle, Cheyney, PA 19319-0200
Control
Public
Students
~720 students
Directory id
211608
OPE id
00331700
Student aid
Takes part in Title IV student aid
Title III Part B list, FY 2026
Listed
Location
1837 University Circle, Cheyney, PA. 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 39.932274, -75.529262 as published. The Census Bureau geocoder also matched this address exactly on 2026-09-14.

Across newBWS

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 211608. 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. The First HBCU, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. https://cheyney.edu/who-we-are/the-first-hbcu/. Read 2026-09-14.
  4. Students: 724 total, Fall 2023 (724 undergraduate, 0 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. Home, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. https://cheyney.edu/. Read 2026-09-17.
  6. School colors: Blue & white. Values as stated. Cheyney University, Wikipedia (revision 1359691045). Read 2026-09-16.
  7. Photograph: Smallbones at English Wikipedia, 10 November 2009 (original upload date), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1909_Cheyney_Library.JPG. Retrieved 2026-09-16.
  8. 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/cheyney-university-of-pennsylvania · All HBCUs

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