COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES

Blue Ridge Community College serves residents of the region and is located in northern Augusta County. The Virginia Community College System emphasizes career education. Curricular offerings are designed to meet regional employment needs and include programs in electronics, data processing, engineering, accounting, and management.  Blue Ridge Community College offers Associate in Applied Science and Associate in Science and Arts degrees.

Blue Ridge Community College opened a satellite campus in December 1985 in the former Wayne Hills Elementary School.  The Waynesboro site serves approximately 1,500 students a year, primarily through night classes.  Additionally, the site is used for meeting and training sessions for local businesses, organizations, and industries.  Blue Ridge Community College also  offers  satellite  facilities  in Harrisonburg.

The State offers through its Department of Business Assistance a variety of training programs that are tailored to meet the specific needs of new, expanding, or existing industries.  Services provided include assistance in recruiting prospective trainees,  developing and implementing training programs, and arranging for suitable training facilities. The cost of these programs is borne by the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The Augusta County-Staunton-Waynesboro area is fortunate to have access to many nearby colleges and universities. 

Mary Baldwin College, located in Staunton, is a four-year liberal arts school for women. Mary Baldwin offers a variety of courses to the public each year through its continuing education program and has a large adult degree program. Washington and Lee University and Virginia Military Institute are located in Lexington, 40 miles south of Staunton.  James Madison University and Eastern Mennonite University are situated in Harrisonburg, while Bridgewater College is located in the Town of Bridgewater in Rockingham County. The University of Virginia is  located  in  Charlottesville,  approximately  20 miles east of Waynesboro.

Virginia Military Institute and the University of Virginia are State-supported institutions of higher education that confer undergraduate and graduate engineering and computer degrees. Virginia Military Institute will cooperate with new or existing industries by providing the opportunity for employees to take undergraduate engineering courses on a part-time basis.  The Virginia Military Institute Research Laboratories, a nonprofit organization, performs scientific and engineering investigations and research for industry and government on both general and specific problems.

Washington and Lee University is a four-year private liberal arts and sciences institution with two undergraduate divisions and a School of Law. James Madison University is a four-year, State supported institution that offers undergraduate degree programs in many disciplines, including computer sciences, mathematics, business administration, and communication.  Its graduate programs include master's degree programs in business administration, public administration, and science.

 For the year 1996-97, the universities and colleges in the Central Shenandoah Valley Region conferred over 4,500 degrees including more than 550 advanced degrees. Combined enrollment for the region's colleges and universities in the fall of 1997 exceeded 25,000 students. Nearby, the University of Virginia and Virginia Tech each graduate some 5,000 students annually and maintain active enrollments of over 20,000 students per year.

From the Central Shenandoah Valley Planning District Commision