America’s first Franciscan University, St. Bonaventure University was founded in 1858 and occupies an attractive 500-acre residential campus in Western New York’s Southern Tier, 70 miles south of Buffalo and 90 miles east of Erie, Pennsylvania.
The university enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduate and 700 graduate students in its schools of Arts and Sciences, Business, Education, Health Professions, and the Jandoli School of Communication. We are accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and our individual schools and academic programs carry prestigious accreditations of their own.
See Accreditations.
We are No. 5 on U.S. News & World Report's list of Best Regional Values in the North and boast Top 20 rankings for Best Undergraduate Teaching in the North and Best Regional Universities in the North. We're also included in The Princeton Review's list of Best 387 Colleges in the Nation.
St. Bonaventure is a proud member of the competitive Atlantic 10 Conference and supports 19 men's and women's Division I teams.
Our Mission
St. Bonaventure is a Catholic university dedicated to educational excellence as informed by our Franciscan and liberal arts traditions. In the words of our patron, we believe that there should be “no knowledge without love,” and thus seek to transform the lives of our students, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship.
St. Bonaventure embraces students, faculty and staff of all faiths and cultures and strives to bring out the best in every individual through meaningful relationships. As an academic and spiritual community, we endeavor to prepare our students for the challenges they will face in their professional careers and personal lives.