Public education in the Upstate is served by each county’s school districts and many independent public charter schools. The following are the list of school districts in each county:
Primary and secondary school districts in the Upstate
Abbeville County School District (ACSD) is a school district serving Abbeville County with 2 high schools, 1 middle school, and 5 elementary schools. Schools include Abbeville High School and Dixie High School.
Anderson School Districts
- Anderson County School District 1 – highly rated school district located in Williamston, SC. It has 10,211 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 18 to 1.
- Anderson County School District 2 – public school district located in Honea Path, SC. It has 3,771 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 16 to 1.
- Anderson County School District 3 – public school district located in Iva, SC. It has 2,599 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1.
- Anderson County School District 4 – a highly rated, public school district located in Pendleton, SC. It has 2,843 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 14 to 1.
- Anderson County School District 5 – public school district located in Anderson, SC. It has 13,227 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1.
The Greenville County School District is the largest school district in South Carolina with 14 high schools, 20 middle schools, and 51 elementary schools. GCSD also takes students from some areas of Spartanburg and Laurens counties. GCSD has 14 National Blue Ribbon Schools, 9 Newsweek’s Best High Schools, 21 Carolina First Palmetto’s Finest Schools, 48 Red Carpet Schools, and 29 National PTA Schools of Excellence.
Greenwood School Districts
- Greenwood School District 50 – is a public school district located in Greenwood, SC. It has 8,887 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1.
- Ware Shoals School District – a public school district located in Ware Shoals, SC. It has 946 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1.
- Greenwood School District 52 – public school district located in Ninety Six, SC. It has 1,573 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 16 to 1.
Laurens School Districts
- Laurens County School District 55 – is a public school district located in Laurens, SC. It has 5,755 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1.
- Laurens School District 56 – public school district located in Clinton, SC. It has 3,099 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 16 to 1.
Oconee School District – is a school district serving Oconee County with 3 high schools, 3 middle schools, 10 elementary schools, and 3 specialized schools. Oconee County School District has 10,603 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 13 to 1.
Saluda County School District– a public school district located in Saluda, SC. It has 2,328 students in grades PK, K-12 with a student-teacher ratio of 15 to 1. There are 3 elementary schools, 1 Middle and High schools.
Spartanburg County School Districts – Spartanburg is home to some of the most sought after schools in the Upstate. A recent web-based research firm found all of Spartanburg’s seven school districts to be in the top 28 out of 87 school districts in South Carolina. Spartanburg has seven school districts locally administered and independent of each other. District lines generally relate to city boundaries but they are not exclusive to them.
- District 1 – Campobello, Inman, Landrum
- District 2 – Boiling Springs, Chesnee, Inman, Mayo
- District 3 – Cowpens, Pacolet, Spartanburg
- District 4 – Woodruff
- District 5 – Duncan, Moore, Reidville, Wellford
- District 6 – Moore, Pauline, Roebuck, Spartanburg
- District 7 – Spartanburg
Union County School District – is a school district serving Union County with 1 high school, 1 middle school, and 4 elementary schools.
Colleges and Universities in the Upstate
The Upstate has diverse institutions from large state-funded research universities to small colleges that cultivate a liberal arts, religious or military tradition. The following are the Upstate list of colleges and universities
Furman University was founded in 1826. It is the largest private institution in South Carolina. Furman University is primarily focused on undergraduate education (only two departments, education, and chemistry, offer graduate degrees). In 2019, Furman University was the highest-ranked institution of higher learning in the state and one of the best universities of the South of U.S. by Forbes.
Wofford College was founded in 1854 in Spartanburg. It is a small liberal arts college offering academic majors in a variety of areas.
Lander University is a public liberal arts university in Greenwood. It is the state’s second-smallest publicly funded baccalaureate institution. The university is focused on undergraduate education and enrolls approximately 3,000 undergraduates. Lander ranked 29 in Regional Colleges of the South and 6 in Best Colleges for Veterans in 2018 edition of U.S. News & World Report.
Presbyterian College (PC) is a private liberal arts college founded in 1880 in Clinton. The School of the Liberal Arts confers B.A. and B.S. degrees in 30 courses of study and 9 pre-professional programs including Pre-Law, Pre-Med, Pre-Theology, and Pre-Pharmacy.
Clemson University was founded in 1889. It is the second-largest university in student population in South Carolina with more than 19,000 undergraduate students and 5,200 graduate students from all 50 states and from more than 70 countries. Clemson University consists of seven colleges: Agriculture, Forestry and Life Sciences; Architecture, Arts and Humanities; Business; Behavioral, Social and Health Sciences; Education; Engineering, Computing and Applied Sciences; and Science.
North Greenville University was founded in 1891, it is a comprehensive university in Tigerville. It is affiliated with South Carolina Baptist Convention and the Southern Baptist Convention, and is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It has an enrollment of around 2,500 undergraduates. The institution awards bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees.
Anderson University was founded in 1911, it is private selective comprehensive university that offers bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degrees in different areas of study. It enrolls about 2,900 students.
Bob Jones University is a non-denominational University founded on fundamentalist Christian beliefs in 1927. BJU consists of seven colleges and schools that offers over 60 undergraduate majors and has over 70 graduate programs.
Converse College is a private university in Spartanburg. It was established in 1889. The college consists of an undergraduate women’s college as well as coeducational graduate, online, and summer programs.
