Despite its limited geographical space, San Francisco, California is home to a multitude of colleges and universities.

Public colleges and universities include:

• City College of San Francisco, one of the largest community colleges in the country; in Ingleside, with several extension campuses
• San Francisco State University, in the southwest corner of the city near Lake Merced
• University of California College of the Law, San Francisco, located downtown at its Civic Center
• University of California, San Francisco, primarily a graduate level health-sciences school, located in the Parnassus Heights/Inner Sunset neighborhood and in Mission Bay, San Francisco, California.

Private colleges and universities:

• Academy of Art University
• Alliant International University, formerly California School of Professional Psychology
• Art Institute of California - San Francisco, a private campus which focuses on video game and design-based education (interior, fashion etc.)
• Arthur A. Dugoni School of Dentistry, part of the University of the Pacific
• California College of the Arts, an Oakland-based school
• California Institute of Integral Studies, in downtown San Francisco
• DeVry University
• The Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising (FIDM)
• Golden Gate University, a private, nonsectarian, coeducational university located in the Financial District of Downtown San Francisco
• Heald College, in the Financial District
• Hult International Business School (Hult San Francisco Campus)
• Minerva Schools at KGI
• New College of California, now defunct, was located in the Mission District
• Presidio Graduate School
• San Francisco Art Institute, now bankrupt
• San Francisco Conservatory of Music
• San Francisco Law School
• San Francisco School of Digital Filmmaking
• Saybrook University
• University of San Francisco, Jesuit-run; located on Lone Mountain
• Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, in the Financial District