Wheaton College is a four-year, private liberal arts college with a student body of approximately 1,600. Wheaton's residential campus is located in Norton, Massachusetts, between Boston, Massachusetts, and Providence, Rhode Island. Founded in 1834 as a female seminary, it was one of the oldest institutions of higher education for women in the United States. In 1912, the trustees officially changed the name of the institution to Wheaton College after receiving a college charter from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The school began admitting men in 1988, after more than 150 years as a female-only institution. Most classes are relatively small: the student-faculty ratio is 11:1 and the average class size is between 15 and 20.