Columbia University Bulletins, 1863-2023

Series XV: Seth Low Junior College Bulletins, 1928-1936

Seth Low Junior College was an extension of Columbia University, which was meant to serve the educational needs of Brooklyn. Columbia had been offering pre-med courses in Brooklyn since 1916 as part of the University Extension. The courses, using the facilities of the Long Island College Hospital in Brooklyn, were offered during the day and were open to both men and women. In 1925 the University Extension started offering pre-law liberal arts courses in the rooms of the Brooklyn Law School to prepare students to join those professional schools. The two-year community college was named after Columbia's 11th President and former Mayor of Brooklyn Seth Low. The school had the same requirements for entry, some of the same Columbia faculty, and even charged the same price of tuition as Columbia College. While they had their own library, zoology and psychology laboratories, lecture halls and classrooms, Seth Low Junior College students still had to travel to the Morningside Heights campus for chemistry and physics courses. Students who completed the non-degree, two-year program could go on to enroll in the professional schools (such as Architecture, Business, Engineering, Journalism, Medicine, Law, Library Service, Optometry, etc.). Others could remain for three years and pursue the liberal arts at the Morningside Heights campus as "University Undergraduates" (not Columbia College students). Graduates would receive Bachelors of Science degrees in General Studies (instead of Bachelors of Arts degrees). The demographic makeup of the Seth Low Junior College student body was predominantly Jewish and Italian. With the opening of Brooklyn College in 1930 (free tuition), enrollment at Seth Low dropped off. The Junior College operated from 1928 to 1936.