Atlantic Union College is a four-year accredited, coeducational, liberal-arts institution with a number of professional and pre-professional programs, several alternative education programs, and a masters degree program in education. Although established by the Seventh-day Adventist Church primarily to serve the needs of its constituents in the northeastern part of the United States and Bermuda, the college welcomes applications from students all over the world who desire a campus atmosphere consciously structured on Christian principles.
Atlantic Union College had its beginnings as South Lancaster Academy, a secondary school begun in 1882. The school very early in its existence felt the need for work to be offered beyond the secondary level.
It became Lancaster Junior College in 1918 and Atlantic Union College in 1922. Its early degrees were B.Th. and B.R.E. degrees, but in 1933 the college was authorized to grant the B.A. degree and in 1954 the B.S. degree.
In 1990 authorization was received to grant the M.Ed. degree. Since 1945 the college has been a member of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.