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Where children of the last 13 presidents attended college

Gabbi Shaw   

Where children of the last 13 presidents attended college
Hillary Rodham Clinton sharing laugh with daughter Chelsea Clinton and President Bill Clinton at Chelsea's first day of Stanford in September 1997.Cynthia Johnson/Getty Images
  • Many first children attend the alma maters of their presidential parents.
  • Others choose to chart their own paths at a different school, or they skip graduating altogether.

President Joe Biden's two living children, Hunter and Ashley Biden, attended Georgetown University and Tulane University for their undergraduate degrees, respectively.

President Joe Biden
Joe and Hunter Biden at a Georgetown basketball game in 2010; Joe and Ashley in 2017.      Chuck Myers/MCT/Tribune News Service/Getty Images; Gary Gershoff/WireImage/Getty Images

Hunter attended Georgetown for his undergraduate degree and then matriculated to Yale Law, graduating in 1996.

The president's daughter, Ashley, obtained a degree in cultural anthropology from Tulane. She then got her master's degree in social work from the University of Pennsylvania.

Biden's other son, Beau, who died in 2015, attended the University of Pennsylvania for undergrad before continuing his studies at Syracuse University's College of Law.

Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka, and Tiffany all graduated from their father's alma mater, the University of Pennsylvania.

Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka, and Tiffany all graduated from their father
Donald Trump Jr., Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, and Tiffany Trump in November 2015.      Lorenzo Bevilaqua/Disney General Entertainment Content/Getty Images

Three of President Trump's four adult children followed in his footsteps and graduated the University of Pennsylvania. Ivanka and Donald Jr. took it one step further and also attended the Wharton School of Finance. Tiffany, on the other hand, graduated with a degree in sociology.

Eric is the lone Trump child to attend undergrad somewhere else — he went to Georgetown University — but he earned a similar degree in finance. Ivanka also started her college career there, but she later transferred to Penn.

Tiffany ended up also attending Georgetown, but for law school. She graduated in 2020.

Malia Obama graduated from Harvard University last year. Her sister, Sasha, reportedly transferred to the University of Southern California from the University of Michigan.

Malia Obama graduated from Harvard University last year. Her sister, Sasha, reportedly transferred to the University of Southern California from the University of Michigan.
President Barack Obama delivers remarks with his daughters Sasha and Malia on November 25, 2015.      Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Malia took a gap year after graduating high school in 2016 before attending Harvard University. She graduated in 2021, and she was recently hired as a writer on Donald Glover's new Amazon show tentatively titled "Honey."

Sasha started her college career at the University of Michigan in 2019, but according to a Daily Mail report, she transferred to USC at some point and has been spotted in Los Angeles in 2022.

President George W. Bush's twin daughters, Jenna and Barbara, graduated from the University of Texas at Austin and Yale University, respectively.

President George W. Bush
Jenna Bush Hager and Barbara Bush on September 26, 2019.      Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images

The Bush twins graduated from college during an election year — 2004 — and their parents opted to skip their graduations due to concerns about their security. Barbara graduated from her father's alma mater, Yale, with a humanities degree, while Jenna left UT Austin with an English degree.

Chelsea Clinton graduated from Stanford University before attending the University of Oxford and Columbia University for post-grad education.

Chelsea Clinton graduated from Stanford University before attending the University of Oxford and Columbia University for post-grad education.
Hillary Rodham Clinton sharing laugh with daughter Chelsea Clinton and President Bill Clinton at Chelsea's first day of college at Stanford University in September 1997.      Cynthia Johnson/Getty Images

Chelsea moved across the country from the White House to attend Stanford in Palo Alto, California, during her father's second term.

She then moved even further away to get a master's degree in international relations at the University of Oxford in London. Chelsea holds a master's in public health from New York City's Columbia University.

President George W. Bush, the 43rd president, is the son of a president himself: President George H. W. Bush. The younger Bush graduated from Yale.

President George W. Bush, the 43rd president, is the son of a president himself: President George H. W. Bush. The younger Bush graduated from Yale.
George W. Bush during his Yale University years.      Newsmakers/Getty Images

During his time at Yale, Bush was a member of the cheerleading team and a part of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

After graduating with a degree in history in 1986, he went to Harvard Business School and obtained a master's in business administration, making him the only US president with an MBA.

His siblings each attended a different college.

His siblings each attended a different college.
Barbara and George Bush with their children: Dorothy, Neil, Marvin, Jeb, and George.      Dirck Halstead/Getty Images

All of the Bush children attended different colleges. As previously stated, George, the eldest, attended Yale like his father.

Next up was Jeb, who graduated from the University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Latin studies. Then came Neil, who attended Tulane for both undergrad and grad school. The third Bush brother, Marvin, graduated from the University of Virginia.

Dorothy, or Doro, one of two Bush daughters (Robin died in 1953 at age 3), graduated from Boston College.

None of President Ronald Reagan's children graduated from college, though all four attended for various periods of time.

None of President Ronald Reagan
Patti Davis, her husband Paul Grilley, first lady Nancy Reagan, President Ronald Reagan, daughter-in-law Doria, and son Ron.      Bettman/Getty Images

Reagan's oldest child, Maureen, whom he shared with his first wife, Jane Wyman, attended Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, but didn't graduate. She died in 2001.

Michael, who was adopted by Reagan and Wyman, attended Arizona State University and Los Angeles Valley College, but he didn't graduate from either.

Patti Davis, the first child of Reagan and his second wife, Nancy, attended both Northwestern University and the University of Southern California, but he also didn't earn a degree from either.

His youngest son, Ron, matriculated to Yale but also never graduated.

President Jimmy Carter's son Jack graduated from the Georgia Institute of Technology; his daughter Amy graduated from Brown University; and his son Jeff graduated from the George Washington University.

President Jimmy Carter
Amy Carter and President Jimmy Carter on August 21, 1995.      Rick Diamond/Getty Images

Carter's oldest son, Jack, earned a degree in nuclear physics from Georgia Tech, and then attended the University of Georgia for law school.

His son Donnel, who goes by Jeff, graduated from the George Washington University with a degree in geography.

His daughter, Amy, attended Brown University for undergrad and then moved to New Orleans to obtain her master's in art history at Tulane.

Carter's second-oldest child, Chip, decided to forego college to work at his family's peanut business.

President Gerald Ford's eldest son, Michael, graduated from Wake Forest University. Two of his other three children attended college, but they didn't graduate.

President Gerald Ford
From left to right, son Steven Ford, son John Ford, first lady Betty Ford, President Gerald Ford, daughter Susan Ford, and daughter-in-law Gayle Ann Ford and her husband, Michael Ford, in 1974.      White House Photos/Getty Images

The eldest Ford child, Michael, graduated from Wake Forest University in 1972. He later returned to work at the university for 36 years before retiring in 2017.

His two younger brothers, Jack and Steven, were each interested in the outdoors. Jack attended Utah State University and worked as a park ranger during summers. He did not graduate. Steven skipped college altogether and worked as a ranch hand before becoming an actor. He starred in the soap opera "The Young and the Restless."

Ford's daughter, Susan, attended Mount Vernon College studying photojournalism, but she left to further her career.

Tricia Nixon graduated from Finch College, while her sister, Julie, graduated from Smith College.

Tricia Nixon graduated from Finch College, while her sister, Julie, graduated from Smith College.
Tricia Nixon Cox and Julie Nixon Eisenhower on January 9, 2012.      Jahi Chikwendiu/The Washington Post/Getty Images

Julie didn't actually attend her graduation from Smith because of threats of protests, and she even wrote that attending the college was like "hell on Earth for me."

Her older sister, Tricia, graduated from Finch College, a now-defunct women's college in New York City.

Lyndon B. Johnson's daughter Lynda graduated from the University of Texas at Austin. Her sister, Luci, attended Georgetown but was forced to drop out. She later attended St. Edward's University.

Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon B. Johnson's daughters Luci Baines Johnson and Lynda Johnson Robb at the LBJ Library on November 12, 2012.      Robert Daemmrich Photography Inc/Corbis/Getty Images

According to the UT Austin chapter of Zeta Beta Tau, Lynda lived in their house while attending the school, complete with Secret Service agents who were able to move in.

Her younger sister, Luci, originally attended Georgetown's nursing school, but she was forced to withdraw when she got married — Georgetown's rules stated that all the nursing students had to be single women.

At age 49, Luci returned to college and earned a communications degree from St. Edward's University in 1998. She graduated with a 4.0 GPA.

"I didn't need to do it to earn a nickel more," she told Texas Monthly in 1998. "I did it so I could put a lifetime of feeling inferior behind me. I did it for myself."

President John F. Kennedy's only living child, Caroline, graduated from Harvard University. Her brother, John Jr., graduated from Brown University.

President John F. Kennedy
Caroline Kennedy graduated from Harvard University on June 5, 1980, seen here with her mother.      Bettman/Getty Images

Technically, she graduated from Radcliffe College, the all-female counterpart to Harvard when it was all-male. Radcliffe was fully integrated into Harvard in 1999. Eight years later, she graduated from Columbia Law School.

Her brother, who died in 1999, graduated from Brown University before getting his law degree at New York University.

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