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The Rise · HBCU

VSU(Virginia State University)

School colors: Orange and blue

Library VSU, Virginia State University
Kevin Coles, 2006-09-29 04:00:40, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Petersburg, Virginia · Founded 1882 · Trojan Explosion Marching Band

Public · Four-year · ~5,200 students

www.vsu.edu · official site

Founding

Virginia State University was founded on March 6, 1882, when the Virginia legislature passed a bill chartering the Virginia Normal and Collegiate Institute, sponsored by Delegate Alfred W. Harris, a Black attorney with offices in Petersburg. In 1902 the legislature revised the charter to curtail the collegiate program and renamed the school the Virginia Normal and Industrial Institute.

Source: History of VSU, Virginia State University, read 2026-09-14.

What the school says about itself

On the record
  • Virginia State University, an HBCU founded in 1882, is one of Virginia's two land-grant institutions and is located 20 minutes south of Richmond in the village of Ettrick. Source, read 2026-09-17.

On the official record

Campus address
1 Hayden Drive, Petersburg, VA 23806
Control
Public
Students
~5,200 students
Directory id
234155
OPE id
00376400
Student aid
Takes part in Title IV student aid
Title III Part B list, FY 2026
Listed
Location
1 Hayden Drive, Petersburg, VA. 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 37.234692, -77.419026 as published. The Census Bureau geocoder returned Non Exact for the address on file, which no longer decides placement.

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 234155. 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 VSU, Virginia State University. https://www.vsu.edu/about/history/. Read 2026-09-14.
  4. Students: 5,190 total, Fall 2023 (4,829 undergraduate, 361 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, Virginia State University. https://www.vsu.edu/. Read 2026-09-17.
  6. About, Virginia State University. https://www.vsu.edu/about/. Read 2026-09-17.
  7. School colors: Orange and blue. Values as stated. Virginia State University, Wikipedia (revision 1370394568). Read 2026-09-16.
  8. Photograph: Kevin Coles, 2006-09-29 04:00:40, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Library_VSU_2006.jpg. Retrieved 2026-09-16.
  9. 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/virginia-state-university · All HBCUs

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