Named after the Texas Ranger and “Father of the Hill Country” who provided the original land and endowment for the school in 1923, Schreiner University is a product of the soil in which it was grown. Captain Charles Schreiner immigrated to Texas as a teenager and lost his parents soon after he arrived. Through hard work and commitment, he built a livestock, retail, and banking empire in Kerr County, the heart of the Texas Hill Country. His story, like those of so many other Texans, is one of courage, strength, hope, and resolve. Though the odds were against him, Captain Schreiner had a vision of a vibrant and diverse Texas Hill Country that included a school educating young men—and later young women—in the military tradition.

Schreiner Institute also grew out of the vision of the Presbytery of Western Texas. In the tradition of the denomination, the Presbytery of Western Texas recognized the people of the Texas Hill Country required a quality education in order for their minds and, therefore, their hearts to be liberated and truly free. As early as 1906, records indicate the Presbytery intended to start a school in Kerrville. In 1923, working alongside Captain Schreiner, it saw that school—Schreiner Institute—become a reality.

Out of the minds and hearts of Captain Schreiner and the Presbytery of West Texas grew the maverick educational institution known today as Schreiner University.

At Schreiner University, students enter with hope and leave with achievement. We are a diverse, fiercely independent university. We are affiliated by choice and covenant with the Presbyterian Church (USA) with a main campus in the Texas Hill Country.

Schreiner University provides students with a personalized, integrated, and holistic educational experience that prepares them for meaningful work and purposeful lives in a changing global society.

Because Schreiner always has been a place of opportunity, all students are recognized as uniquely valuable and capable of excellence;

This diversity of people and thought will thrive only in a setting of open, civil discourse;

In the undergraduate program, every student should have the opportunity to develop intellectually, physically, spiritually, and socially;

In the undergraduate and graduate programs, every student should have the opportunity to develop the capacity for life-long learning and service to society in order to participate successfully in the global world; and

Across all our educational programs, we should develop thoughtful, productive, and ethical citizens.

By 2030, Schreiner University will continue to preserve, challenge, and expand the story of Texas as its 2,030 students participate in the most unique curricular and co-curricular set of offerings in the State, including opportunities in talent and workforce development, undergraduate degrees, and graduate programs. Having earned recognition as a university that promotes social and economic mobility, Schreiner alumni will identify their time at the school as key to their personal and professional development.