Caitlin Cowan chose Haverford College because she liked its Quaker roots and honor code and that it was a small campus near a big city.
But when it came time to choose a major, she selected anthropology at nearby Bryn Mawr College.
And that was no problem at all.
For decades, the two colleges, just a five-minute shuttle ride apart, have allowed students to take classes, participate in clubs and programs, and eat in dining halls on each other’s campus for no additional charge. Students have even been able to live on the other campus, though college officials say few do.
Many take advantage: During the fall 2025 semester, 40% of Bryn Mawr students took courses at Haverford and 42% of Haverford students did the same at Bryn Mawr. In total, there were more than 1,700 course registrations on the non-home campuses in fall 2025. (Haverford and Bryn Mawr students also can take classes at Swarthmore College and the University of Pennsylvania and select a major at Swarthmore.)
The relationship between Haverford and Bryn Mawr — which together enroll about 2,800 students — opens many more options to students, allows faculty to collaborate, and saves money, college officials said. Both are highly selective liberal arts colleges; Bryn Mawr is a women’s college.
“The academic offerings that we provide are exponentially larger than they would be without the partnership,” said Bryn Mawr president Wendy Cadge.
It was 1997 when Cowan, now an elementary school reading teacher in Minneapolis, got her degree from Haverford while majoring at Bryn Mawr. Now her daughter, Tabitha, 21, is enrolled at Bryn Mawr and is enjoying the benefits of both campuses, too.
“It just broadens your world,” Tabitha Cowan said.
Majoring in architecture studies and Spanish, she participates in the Bi-College flute choir, made up of two Haverford students and 11 Bryn Mawr students.
“We have access to Haverford’s performance spaces because we do not have a music program here at Bryn Mawr,” she said.
They practice twice a week, once at Haverford and once at Bryn Mawr.
Joint majors and projects
The colleges have been able to launch joint majors in technology-intensive, interdisciplinary fields like neuroscience — which has become the most popular major on Haverford’s campus — that would have been harder to support individually. It also means the schools share expanded instructional technology and library services.
Faculty from both schools are working on joint projects that received institutional pilot grants, encouraging closer collaboration. One project that launched last semester is focused on developing a Jewish studies program, while another aims to reinvigorate Black studies. Others involve interdisciplinary training, chemistry, and narrative across languages and cultures.
“We really do try to make it as seamless as possible,” said Bryn Mawr provost Dee Matthews.
Students get one transcript, and colleges share non-salary operating costs, such as administrative overhead, for some of the offerings shared by the campuses, she said.
“It’s a way in which we can have a large academic community while still preserving the scale of our individual institutions,” said Haverford provost Helen White.
The two schools earlier this year re-upped a memorandum of understanding on the partnership, which started 50 years ago. The schools will explore new ways to make the most of the partnership and elevate its visibility for students.
“We affirm that ‘each college is a better version of itself because of the richness of ideas, community, and organization made possible by the Bi-College connection,’” the memo states.
There are about 75 such consortia nationally, with differences in how they collaborate, said Sarah Pfatteicher, executive director of the Five College Consortium in western Massachusetts. The two oldest were formed about a century ago, one in California and one in Georgia. More may start, given the political and financial pressures on higher education and the influence of artificial intelligence, said Pfatteicher, who has written a book about college consortia.
“Any time there is pressure on higher education, particularly financial pressures, there is incentive to say, ‘What could we gain by working with our colleagues instead of trying to go this alone?’” she said.
Complementary offerings
The partnership between Haverford and Bryn Mawr — both of which have substantial endowments — has not been driven by finances.
Each school brings unique features to the table. Bryn Mawr has a pool, Haverford a track. Bryn Mawr has art history and Haverford the fine arts. Haverford has music; Bryn Mawr has theater.
The food is better at Bryn Mawr and the parties at Haverford, students say.
“Certain sports teams at Haverford watch our menus and then come here because they think our food is better,” Cadge said. “It’s all the same food, but don’t tell.”
Haverford student Gabriel Bernstein may differ. He said he and his track teammates often board the bus to eat at Bryn Mawr.
“Bryn din,” he called it.
In Bryn Mawr’s Class of 2025, 2% were enrolled in a major exclusive to Haverford, while 2.8% took a Haverford major with a Bryn Mawr component and 12.8% had a major shared by the colleges. For Haverford, 4.1% were enrolled in a major exclusive to Bryn Mawr, while 7.2% took a Bryn Mawr major with a Haverford counterpart and 11.1% had a shared major.
‘Deeply invested in the liberal arts’
One day during the spring semester, a group of Haverford students got off the Blue Bus, which shuttles students back and forth between the campuses about every 20 minutes, They had arrived at Bryn Mawr to take a Chinese class not offered at Haverford.
Meanwhile, Corry Varney-Irlam, 21, a Bryn Mawr student, boarded the bus to head to Haverford for a political science class.
“It worked better with my schedule,” Varney-Irlam said.
Bryn Mawr professor Matt Ruben teaches classes in the growth and structure of cities program, a major based at Bryn Mawr. In a recent class of 50 students, 12 were from Haverford. Typically, 40% to 50% of the program’s majors are Haverford students, he said.
Students from the two schools have a lot in common, he said.
“They’re all really highly skilled,” he said. “They’re highly engaged. They’re all highly motivated. And they’re all deeply invested in the liberal arts experience.”
Some Haverford students were men — the partnership means males take classes at Bryn Mawr, a women’s college.
Students said the gender mix in classes really didn’t matter.
“I don’t mind it,” Varney-Irlam said. “There’s definitely a benefit to having predominantly women in Bryn Mawr classes. But I think that it’s nice to have a change of environment and more people around to socialize with.”
Cowan said she enjoyed taking classes at Bryn Mawr in the 1990s because it seemed women had more space to talk and there was more support.
“Sometimes men can take up a lot of space in the room,” she said.
That is not as much of a factor now, said Ruben, the professor, because there is more gender fluidity, and different levels of consciousness about gender-related issues.
“It makes a difference and it’s always going to make a difference, but it makes less of a difference than it did like 10 years ago,” he said.
The Dosen family has seen the partnership from both sides. Daniela Dosen, 22, was a physics major at Bryn Mawr, while her twin sister, Madeline, majored in biology at Haverford. Both women played varsity soccer for their schools and graduated May 16. The colleges even coordinate commencements — one was in the morning, the other in the afternoon.
First semester freshman year they had an 8 a.m. Spanish class together at Bryn Mawr. Daniela had a short walk, while her sister had to board the bus.
“Sometimes we showed up in the same beach sweatshirt,” she said.
