Fredericksburg Higher Education, Fredericksburg Colleges, Fredericksburg Universities

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Education

The Fredericksburg Region’s reputation for standardized test scores above the national average helps attract families to the area. Excellent public and private schools contribute to a high quality of life and prepare students for the future. Educators and administrators routinely win praise for creating challenging learning environments and spurring students to reach their potentials.

The region has a total of 43 public elementary schools, 18 public middle schools and 15 public high schools, as well as several private schools. The Commonwealth Governor’s School targets gifted learners, and the Spotsylvania Vocational Center offers training for various occupations.

Newcomers are also attracted to the region’s diverse selection of colleges that offer affordable tuition, credit and non-credit courses, online distance learning, and flexible class schedules. These colleges prepare traditional students and working adults for the specific needs of the workplace.

The University of Mary Washington is a coeducational public institution with an undergraduate residential campus in Fredericksburg and a graduate and professional studies campus in nearby Stafford County. The university, with a total enrollment of nearly 5,000 students, is known for its commitment to academic excellence, strong undergraduate liberal arts program, and dedication to lifelong learning and professional development. U.S. News & World Report has repeatedly listed UMW as among the best values for a school of its size.

The residential campus is one of the nation’s most academically selective undergraduate institutions. It boasts one of the country’s best historic preservation programs, in addition to a nationally recognized liberal arts and sciences curriculum. In addition to its traditional four-year degree programs, the university offers undergraduate and graduate degrees and certificates for working adults at its College of Graduate and Professional Studies. A second building with state-of-the-art classrooms and meeting facilities has opened at the campus in Stafford County. The university has many other outstanding and innovative programs, including new collaborative offerings between the two campuses in Geographic Information Systems (GIS), teaching students with autism and secondary mathematics education.

Students at UMW also are active in service to the local community, and Mary Washington is consistently listed as one of the Peace Corps’ top-producing colleges and universities, recently named fifth among institutions with fewer than 5,000 undergraduates. The university also has earned several national athletic championships in a variety of NCAA Division III sports.

Germanna Community College, one of the fastest growing community colleges in Virginia, serves more than 11,000 students annually at its Fredericksburg and Locust Grove campuses. The college offers credit and non-credit courses, associate degrees, certificates, occupational-technical programs, and college transfer programs.

A third location, Germanna’s Center for Advanced Technology, opened in Culpeper in fall 2006 and offers both credit and non-credit classes. It also provides workforce and development instruction and technology training. The center features a multipurpose hall that seats up to 750 people, an executive conference center, and an advanced manufacturing lab that is designed to host training activities for business and industry.

Germanna’s Center for Workforce and Community Education provides professional and personal development training and community enrichment. The Center also develops custom-designed programs to meet the training needs of business, industry and government.

Germanna is one of three community colleges in the state selected to pilot the Commonwealth Nursing Program that combines online course work with laboratory and clinical experience. The program, which began in January 2006, allows students to earn associate degrees in applied science in preparation for the national licensing exam for registered nurses.

Other post-secondary educational choices include Strayer University (a multi-campus business school for working adults); Old Dominion University, which offers various degrees through Teletechnet at Germanna; the University of Richmond’s Weekend College, which allows students to earn a bachelor’s degree in two years at Germanna; and a military career transition program at Marine Corps Base Quantico.