Stockton University, located in Galloway Township in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, is a public undergraduate and graduate university of the arts, sciences and professional studies of the New Jersey state system of higher education. The university was named for Richard Stockton, one of the New Jersey signers of the Declaration of Independence. Founded in 1969, Stockton accepted its charter class in 1971. At its opening in 1971, classes were held at the Mayflower Hotel in Atlantic City; the campus in Galloway Township began operating late in 1971. Some 8,728 students are enrolled at Stockton, which provides distinctive traditional and alternative approaches to education.Stockton was granted university status in 2015. Stockton had met the requirements for such a designation for over five years, and already was classified as a comprehensive university by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, U.S. News & World Report and The Princeton Review. The university has been accredited by the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools since 1975 and accreditation was reaffirmed in 2012.HistoryIn November 1968, New Jersey approved a $202.5 million capital construction bond issue with an earmarked $15 million designated for the construction of a new state college in Southern New Jersey. In 1969, a 1600acre tract was selected for the campus in the heart of the Pine Barrens in Galloway Township. The trustees named the school South Jersey State College; they later renamed it as Stockton State College, to avoid confusion with Rutgers College of South Jersey.
