Jeopardy! College Championship

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! is removed, so the "Think!" Trumpet music 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, this was used during the introductions with the Road Show Opening Theme.
• 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.

Gallery

Season 5

Season 6 Note: It doesn't read what the top cash amount is that they are playing for.

Season 7

Season 8

Season 9

Season 10

Seasons 11-12

Season 13

Season 14

Season 15 Same as the previous season; only this time, the snapshot is inside.

Season 16

Season 17

Season 18 This is the only time a title card includes the year.

Season 19

Season 20

Season 21

Season 22

Season 23A

Season 23B

Season 24

Season 25-26

Season 27

Season 28-29

Season 30-33

Season 34

Season 36 - Note that the College Championship is presented by Lending Tree.