Coastal Carolina University was founded in 1954 as Coastal Carolina Junior College and held evening classes in Conway High School from 1954 to 1963, with an initial enrollment of 53 students. Originally sponsored by the College of Charleston from 1954 to 1958, the junior college became a branch of the University of S.C. in 1960. Coastal Carolina Junior College moved here in 1963 upon completion of its first building, later named for Edward M. Singleton, chancellor from 1963 to 1983. As Coastal Carolina College, it began offering four-year degrees in 1974, and in 1993 it became an independent state university.