The Jeopardy! College Championship is a special two-week event featuring full-time undergraduate college students with no prior degrees. The layout was the same as the Teen Tournament and the Tournament of Champions, with winners receiving $100,000 (formerly $50,000 from 2000-2003 and $25,000 prior to then) and a guaranteed spot in the next Tournament of Champions. With the exceptions of seasons 31 and 35 the College Championship was held annually since its inception. It was last held during Season 36 and has a spinoff in primetime National College Championship.
Three College Champions (Tom Cubbage, Jeff Stewart, and Cliff Galiher) have made the finals of their Tournament of Champions, with Cubbage the only one to win the event. He later competed in the 1990's Super Jeopardy tournament, losing his quarterfinal game.
Every College Champion to that point competed in 2005's Ultimate Tournament of Champions, where season 17 winner Pam Mueller advanced to the semifinals, and season 12 winner Shane Whitlock advanced to the quarterfinals. Cubbage, Mueller, Whitlock, season 9 winner Phoebe Juel, and season 18 winner Vinita Kailasanath all competed in 2014's Battle of the Decades tournament as well, with Cubbage and Mueller advancing to the semifinals as wild cards.
Whitlock, 2008 winner Joey Beachum, and November 2010 winner Erin McLean were among the past champions in the fan-favorite online voting to earn one of three slots in the tournament, but only Whitlock won the fan vote for his decade.
2017 winner Lilly Chin was the alternate of the All-Star Games appearing in the audience on Facebook Live.
Mueller and 2012 winner Monica Thieu both competed as team members in 2019's Jeopardy All-Star Games; Mueller was drafted to team Colby Burnett while Thieu was drafted to team Ken Jennings. Both teams advanced to the finals with Thieu's team finishing second and Mueller's team finishing third.
2001 winner Vinita Kailasanath and 2005 winner Nico Martinez were both in Stanford University when they participated this tournament.
1999 winner Carolyn Cracraft died of end-stage liver disease on June 6, 2019, at the age of 41.
Season | Airdate | Finale | Winner | College |
---|---|---|---|---|
5 | May 8, 1989 | May 19, 1989 | Tom Cubbage | Southern Methodist University |
6 | May 7, 1990 | May 18, 1990 | Michael Thayer | Rutgers University |
7 | May 6, 1991 | May 17, 1991 | Scott Gillispie | Georgia Institute Of Technology |
8 | May 4, 1992 | May 15, 1992 | Billy Baxter | The College of William & Mary |
9 | May 3, 1993 | May 14, 1993 | Phoebe Juel | Grinnell College |
10 | May 2, 1994 | May 13, 1994 | Jeff Stewart | Brigham Young University |
11 | May 1, 1995 | May 12, 1995 | Ben Lyon | The University of Oklahoma |
12 | February 12, 1996 | February 23, 1996 | Shane Whitlock | The University of Arkansas |
13 | May 12, 1997 | May 23, 1997 | Craig Barker | The University of Michigan |
14 | May 4, 1998 | May 15, 1998 | Andrew Hutchings | Harvey Mudd College |
15 | May 3, 1999 | May 14, 1999 | Carolyn Cracraft | The University of Chicago |
16 | February 7, 2000 | February 18, 2000 | Janet Wong | Drew University |
17 | November 8, 2000 | November 21, 2000 | Pam Mueller | Loyola University Chicago |
18 | November 7, 2001 | November 20, 2001 | Vinita Kailasanath | Stanford University |
19 | November 11, 2002 | November 22, 2002 | Kyle Hale | Texas A&M University |
20 | November 10, 2003 | November 21, 2003 | Keith Williams | Middlebury College |
21 | November 10, 2004 | November 23, 2004 | Kermin Fleming | Carnegie Mellon University |
22 | November 7, 2005 | November 18, 2005 | Nico Martinez | Stanford University |
23 | April 30, 2007 | May 11, 2007 | Cliff Galiher | The University of California, Los Angeles |
24 | May 5, 2008 | May 16, 2008 | Joey Beachum | Mississippi State University |
25 | May 4, 2009 | May 15, 2009 | Patrick Tucker | The University of Notre Dame |
26 | February 1, 2010 | February 12, 2010 | Nick Yozamp | Washington University in St. Louis |
27 | November 8, 2010 | November 19, 2010 | Erin McLean | Boston University |
28 | February 1, 2012 | February 14, 2012 | Monica Thieu | The University of North Texas |
29 | May 6, 2013 | May 17, 2013 | Jim Coury | Georgetown University |
30 | February 10, 2014 | February 21, 2014 | Terry O'Shea | Princeton University |
32 | February 1, 2016 | February 12, 2016 | Sam Deutsch | The University of Southern California |
33 | February 13, 2017 | February 24, 2017 | Lilly Chin | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
34 | April 9, 2018 | April 20, 2018 | Dhruv Gaur | Brown University |
36 | April 6, 2020 | April 17, 2020 | Nibir Sarma | The University of Minnesota |
Trivia[]
- For the season 16 College Championship, the "Think!" music from Rock & Roll Jeopardy! was used during the Final Jeopardy! segment, and the tournament was taped at Stage 10 instead of on the road.
- This was the first instance of the Rock & Roll Jeopardy! music being used on the main show.
- From season 20 until season 35, the use of the R&RJ music package for the College Championship became a regular practice. Initially, the music was only heard going into and out of commercial breaks. Beginning in Season 23, it was also used during the introductions.
- From season 14 (with the exception of Season 16) until season 24, the tournament was taped on road.
- For game 1 of the season 18 College Championship, the theme song and "Think!" music was performed by the UCLA Bruins Marching Band.
- For the season 20 College Championship, the "Think!" Music was performed by the Yale Whiffenpoofs.
- For the season 36 College Championship, the music package from Sports Jeopardy! was used, including the Final Jeopardy! "Think!" music.
- Among other tournaments, many of the participants who achieved the best results in the ToC are tournaments. So far, 3 people have made it to the finals, and they have even produced 1st (Tom Cubbage - 1989), 2nd (Jeff Stewart - 1994), and 3rd (Cliff Galiher - 2007) places.
- There was no College Championship in seasons 31, 35, and 37 (the latter due to travel restrictions in effect during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as an ongoing rotation of guest hosts following the death of Alex Trebek).
- Starting in season 38 when the tournament resumed, it was rebranded as the Jeopardy! National College Championship; the format also changed, and it now airs in primetime on ABC instead of the daily syndicated series.