You can find Shenandoah University on the southern end of Winchester just off Interstate 81. It features a student body of about 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Founded in 1960, the university offers liberal arts and professional programs in six "schools of excellence," including arts and sciences, conservatory, business, education and human development, pharmacy and health professions.
Located in tiny Middletown about 10 miles southwest of Winchester on I-81, Lord Fairfax Community College first opened its doors in 1970 and today has three locations in Virginia, including its main Middletown campus. The community college offers more than 75 associate degree and certificate programs with "access to bachelor's, master's and doctoral degree programs offered on site by a four-year institution," according to the college's website. The college also has workforce preparation programs for employers and employees.
Christendom College is a Roman Catholic college situated in Front Royal, about 10 miles due south of Winchester. A small group of Catholic lay men and women founded the college in 1977, and the college purchased a 100-acre land tract in 1979 on the banks of the Shenandoah River. The college has a core curriculum that focuses on Catholic theology and philosophy, the history of Western civilization, languages, political science, economics, mathematics and science.
Located in Purcellville, about a half-hour's drive east, Patrick Henry College is a small, private four-year institution created in 2000 and geared toward Christian home schoolers. The school has only a few hundred students and originally offered only two degrees --- liberal arts and government --- although it has since added a few others. The college's relationship with the Bush Administration and its stated ambitions to train students to get involved in politics resulted in media coverage and the book "God's Harvard" by a writer for the New Yorker. Teresa Scanlan, who was crowned Miss America in January 2011, said she planned to attend the college after completing her year-long duties as the pageant's winner.