Wayne State College, 1111 Main St. in Wayne, opened on November 21, 1891, as Nebraska Normal College under J. M. Pile and became a state school in 1910; it took its present name in 1963. It offers more than 130 undergraduate and 39 graduate programs on a campus of about 135 acres, and fields 15 NCAA Division II teams in the NSIC. Enrollment was about 4,600 in 2025–26, and fall 2026 brought a record freshman class of 803.