Which U.S. colleges had active Turning Point USA chapters in 2025?
Executive summary
Turning Point USA (TPUSA) reported roughly 900 official college chapters in 2025, and multiple contemporary news outlets and TPUSA’s own materials describe hundreds-to-thousands of campus presences and a massive surge of inquiries after Charlie Kirk’s death (TPUSA’s counts cited as ~900 college chapters) [1] [2] [3]. Available sources list national totals and examples of campus launches and applications — they do not provide a single, authoritative, campus-by-campus roster of every active college chapter in 2025 (available sources do not mention a full list of individual colleges).
1. What TPUSA itself says about its footprint
TPUSA’s public material and student-affiliate pages describe the organization as operating the nation’s largest conservative student movement on many campuses and give headline totals — TPUSA’s sites and promotional text put the number of college chapters in the high hundreds (TPUSA marketing uses figures like “over 900” and “nearly 800” in different pages) and claim presence on “over 3,500 campuses” across its programs [2] [4]. These are organizational totals and not an itemized accounting of which specific colleges hosted active chapters in 2025 [2] [4].
2. Independent reporting: national totals, not campus lists
News outlets reported similar aggregate figures after a spike in interest following Charlie Kirk’s assassination. Newsweek and The Daily Wire quoted TPUSA spokespeople saying the group had about 900 official college chapters and roughly 1,200 high school chapters in 2025; those reports also conveyed that TPUSA had received tens of thousands of inquiries about starting new chapters in the wake of the events in September 2025 [1] [5]. These stories document scale and momentum but stop short of publishing an exhaustive campus-by-campus roster [1] [5].
3. Documented campus activity and campus-by-campus examples
Local reporting and campus outlets confirm chapters forming or applying at specific schools. For example, regional reporting noted students moving to start TPUSA chapters at the University of Scranton and Misericordia University; university statements showed some campuses were still reviewing student applications to form chapters [6]. Other campus-level coverage cited chapter growth and large local events [3]. These examples show activity on particular campuses but do not amount to a comprehensive national list [6] [3].
4. Surge in demand complicates “active chapter” definitions
Multiple sources document a surge of requests to form chapters — TPUSA reported tens of thousands of inquiries within days, and Campus Reform and Newsweek described rapid increases in membership and requests [3] [5]. A high inquiry volume reveals enthusiasm but does not equate to immediate, formally recognized chapters: many inquiries could be early-stage applications, intent-to-start messages, or expressions of interest that universities may review before granting official status [3] [1]. University processes and local approvals matter to whether a group is an “active chapter,” and available reporting shows both application activity and administrative review [6].
5. Political and institutional context that shapes chapter lists
State and education officials became involved in pushing TPUSA expansion in 2025: Oklahoma’s state superintendent publicly pledged to put TPUSA chapters into every high school in the state and state-level meetings occurred in Texas about school partnerships, which can accelerate chapter creation and blur lines between formal campus recognition and externally supported initiatives [7] [8] [9]. These political efforts create incentives for rapid expansion but also introduce partisan pressure that can affect whether universities formally approve or disallow chapters [8] [7].
6. Limitations of available reporting and how to get a campus list
Available sources provide credible aggregate counts and scattered campus examples but do not publish a verified, up-to-date list of every active college chapter in 2025; TPUSA’s public pages and a “Chapter Handbook” exist but the public site excerpts in these sources do not produce an itemized roster [2] [10]. To build a campus-level list one must consult: (a) TPUSA’s internal chapter directory (if publicly shared), (b) individual college student org registries, and (c) contemporary local news reports for confirmation (available sources do not mention a single consolidated list in public reporting) [2] [6].
7. Competing claims and what to watch next
TPUSA and sympathetic outlets emphasize raw growth metrics (nearly 900 college chapters; tens of thousands of inquiries) as proof of expansion [1] [5]. Independent and local reporting documents applications and new chapters but highlights institutional review and controversy on some campuses [6] [3]. Watch for university student organization pages and updated TPUSA chapter directories (if released) for definitive campus lists; current reporting documents scale and examples but not an exhaustive roster [2] [1].
If you want, I can use the sources above to compile a list of campuses named in the reporting and verify whether each campus reported a TPUSA chapter or an application in 2025.