The title of oldest public university in the United States is claimed by three universities: the University of Georgia, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the College of William and Mary. Each has a distinct basis for the claim: North Carolina being the first to hold classes and graduate students as a public institution, Georgia being the first created by state charter, and William & Mary having the oldest founding and operations dates of any current public university, but it was a private institution for over 200 years, until 1906. While all three universities closed for a time as a result of the American Civil War, William and Mary was closed for over two decades.