公立常春藤(Public Ivy)是指同常春藤盟校具有同等教学和学术水平的公立大学。《黑人高等教育论文》杂志( The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education)将她们比作是“成功地和常春藤盟校在学术领域竞争……吸引超级明星级别的教授,争夺最好和最聪明的生源”。这个词最早是理查德·摩尔(Richard Moll)在他的书《公立常春藤:美国最好的公众本科大学指南》(1985)中创造的。理查德·摩尔的公立常春藤名单包括8个公立大学:
加州大学伯克利分校
密歇根大学安娜堡分校
威廉玛丽学院
弗吉尼亚大学
德克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校
北卡罗来纳大学教堂山分校
佛蒙特大学
迈阿密大学牛津分校
21世纪初,根据Greenes' Guides: The Public Ivies (accessed on May 16, 2007),美国教育界把其它顶尖公立大学也加入了公立常春藤(Public Ivy)名单,包括:
NortheasternPennsylvania State University (University Park)
Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey (New Brunswick, New Jersey)
State University of New York at Binghamton
University of Connecticut (Storrs)
Mid-AtlanticUniversity of Delaware (Newark)
University of Maryland (College Park)
College of William & Mary (Williamsburg, Virginia)
University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
SouthernUniversity of Florida (Gainesville)
University of Georgia (Athens)
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
University of Texas at Austin
WesternUniversity of Arizona (Tucson)
University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Davis
University of California, Irvine
University of California, San Diego
University of California, Santa Barbara
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Washington (Seattle)
Great Lakes & MidwestIndiana University (Bloomington)
Miami University (Oxford, Ohio)
Michigan State University (East Lansing)
The Ohio State University (Columbus)
University of Illinois (Urbana-Champaign)
University of Iowa (Iowa City)
University of Michigan (Ann Arbor)
University of Minnesota (Minneapolis–Saint Paul)
University of Wisconsin (Madison)
随着美国经济危机,越来越多的优秀学生放弃了传统的常青藤盟校,转而投入顶尖公立大学的怀抱,这些学校的教学和学术水平同八所常青藤大学几乎相当,但学费较低,这样吸引了大量的顶尖优秀学子。