List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston

This is a list of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston. Some are located within Boston proper while some are located in neighboring cities and towns, but all are within the 128/95/1 loop. This is closer to the "inner core" definition of Metropolitan Boston, which excludes more suburban North Shore, South Shore and MetroWest regions. Although larger institutions may have several schools, some of which are located in cities other than that of the main campus (such as Harvard Medical School and Tufts University School of Medicine), each institution is listed only once and location is determined by the site of each institution's main campus. Three universities—Harvard and MIT in Cambridge, as well as Tufts in Somerville—make up the "brainpower triangle" of greater Boston, a region defined by universities that have a large local and national influence. There are a total of 44 institutions of higher education in the defined region, including three junior colleges, 11 colleges that primarily grant baccalaureate and master's degrees, eight research universities, and 22 special-focus institutions. Of these, 39 are private ventures while five are public institutions (four are run by the state of Massachusetts and one is operated by the city of Quincy). In 2024, enrollment at these colleges and universities ranged from 43 students at Boston Baptist College to 37,737 students at Boston University. The first to be founded was Harvard University, also the oldest institution of higher education in the United States, while the most recently established institution is Sattler College. All but five of these schools are accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE).