Historedia
AmericasEvent

University of Southern California opens with 53 students

When
1880
Where
Los Angeles
Episodes
1

The University of Southern California opened in Los Angeles in 1880 as the oldest private research university in California. Initial enrollment consisted of 53 students with a faculty of 10. Tuition was set at $15.00 per term, and students required presidential consent to leave town. The institution was founded through efforts of Judge Robert Maclay Widney and key local donors.

Episodes

  1. 1880 · Los AngelesOpening

    USC opened in 1880 with 53 students and 10 faculty. Tuition was $15.00 per term, and students required presidential consent to leave town.

Background and detail

Background. Judge Robert Maclay Widney helped secure donations from several key figures in early Los Angeles history, including Ozro Childs, John Gately Downey, and Isaias Wolf Hellman. The University of Southern California was founded in 1880 and is the oldest private research university in California. Widney Alumni House, built in 1880, is the oldest university building in Southern California.

Opening. When USC opened in 1880, the school had an enrollment of 53 students and a faculty of 10. Tuition was $15.00 per term. Students were not allowed to leave town without the knowledge and consent of the university president. Emma Bovard was one of the first students to enroll.

People involved

Sources

  1. University of Southern California Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-22
  2. History of the University of Southern California Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-07

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.