Columbia College in Fort Drum is one of 34 campuses in the Columbia College school system based out of Columbia, Missouri. Columbia College in Fort Drum is a coed liberal arts school and a private institution. Columbia College was founded in 1851, and the Fort Drum campus was founded in 2006. Currently the Fort Drum campus has a student-to-teacher ratio of 14-to-1, and the school offers both Associate and Bachelor degrees through both its physical campus and on-line classes. The school is nonsectarian, but Columbia College has maintained a relationship with the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) since its founding.
SUNY North Country Consortium is a consortium of campuses that was created after State University of New York (SUNY) and Fort Drum representatives met to bring higher education to the Fort Drum area. As a full four-year university was impossible financially, they instead opted for many small campuses to offer courses to the area. None of the campuses in the consortium offer the same courses, and they provide Associate, Bachelor and Master's degree programs. They are also all part of the Service Members Opportunity Colleges program. The seven main campuses are SUNY Canton, SUNY Empire State, SUNY IT, SUNY Jefferson, SUNY Oswego, SUNY Potsdam, SUNY Upstate; SUNY provides courses at a small campus in Fort Drum.
Also associated with the State University of New York, but different from the North Country Consortium, is SUNY Empire State College, which has a location on the Fort Drum military base in the Robert C. McEwen Library and Education Complex. This location is open to both civilians and members of the military. SUNY Empire State College was founded in 1971 as a college of arts and sciences, and offers Associate, Bachelor and Master's degrees to the Fort Drum area.
Jefferson Community College is located in Watertown, New York, about 20 minutes southwest of Fort Drum, and is also a part of the SUNY system of schools, the SUNY community college program which contains 30 other schools. Jefferson Community College provides Associate degrees to the Watertown/Fort Drum area, and was chartered in 1961 and accredited in 1969. The college currently offers 13 Associate's programs and six certificate programs to its 2,018 full-time and 1,429 part-time students.