Charlie Kirk to get honorary degree from Hillsdale College: What did he study?

Charlie Kirk testament feature an donnish level, albeit posthumous. Hillsdale College chair, Larry P Arnn, announced that they would be giving an honorary degree to the Turning Point USA founder, who was fatally shot on September 10.

“Erika doesn’t know this yet, we are giving Charlie and Erika the greatest respect a college can give. An honorary degree,” Arnn said at Kirk's funeral service which is underway at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona.

Check live updates from Charlie Kirk's funeral service

Notably, information about Kirk that is available had not previously listed Hillsdale as one of his places of education. Kirk was at Wheeling High School, and then headed to Harper College, a community college in Illinois. However, he'd dropped out from there and enrolled part-time at King's College in New York City. He took online classes there, and didn't receive a degree – a fact Kirk referred to later in his career.

However, now, Hillsdale will be giving Kirk a posthumous honorary degree, and also confirmed that the 31-year-old was taking online courses there.

“Charlie took some 30 of our online courses,” Hillsdale's Associate Vice President of Media and Public Relations told Fox Business. Kirk also reportedly enjoyed a close, personal relationship with college president Arnn.

“After Charlie had taken one of our online courses, passed the examination, received his certificate, photographed himself with it, and texted it to me. Before his death, he did that many times. The prevailing subject was always something he wanted to know,” the publication reported him say.

The college site now has a page dedicated to Kirk and a video message from Arnn, accompanied by the following message: “Hillsdale College mourns the loss of our dear friend, Charlie Kirk. His deep and abiding faith, thirst for knowledge, and moral and intellectual courage were the hallmarks of his life and work. We are blessed to have known him—and we pray for his dear wife and children.”

Hillsdale College in Michigan was founded in 1844 and describes itself as “small, Christian, classical liberal arts college.” It says it provides “all who wish to learn’ the education necessary to preserve the civil and religious liberties of America,” as per the website.

The online program was launched in 2011, and Kirk would have been one of ‘more than 4.2 million Americans’ who signed up for the courses. They focused on history, politics, philosophy, economics, religion and more.

While the online courses appear free, the total feels for academic year 2025-2026 is around $48,210, as per the college site.

---

---