To go to university in The Sims 2, you need the University expansion, a teen Sim, and a phone or computer: pick the College option, apply for scholarships, then send the teen off, and they arrive on campus as a Young Adult. The Legacy Collection includes University, so every current Steam and EA App copy can do this out of the box. Below we cover attaching a campus to your neighborhood, scholarships, the enrolment call, what the eight semesters ask of your Sim, and the bugs Maxis fixed in 2025.
What You Need First
University is an expansion pack, not a base game feature. The Legacy Collection (January 2025) bundles it with every other expansion and stuff pack except IKEA Home Stuff, and the older Ultimate Collection had it too, so the only players who lack it are those on an original base game disc.
Your neighborhood also needs a campus attached. From the neighborhood view, use the University button in the neighborhood panel to add one of the three pre-made colleges (Sim State University, La Fiesta Tech or Academie Le Tour) or a custom one. Each main neighborhood can have more than one university sub-neighborhood, and a teen can only enrol somewhere that exists. If the College options never appear on the phone, this is usually why.
Scholarships, Then the Call
Scholarships are optional but worth the two minutes. Click a phone or computer with a teen selected and open the College menu. Applying for scholarships checks the teen against a list of grants tied to their school grade, skill levels, aspiration and a few special cases, and any award is added to the money they take to campus. Good grades matter here, which is where private school and homework pay off; a teen with an A+ and a couple of skills at 8 or higher starts college with a comfortable balance.
Then choose the option to go to college from the same menu. You will be asked which teens in the household are going, so siblings can leave together and share a dorm or house. The teens get a farewell scene, leave the lot and appear in the university sub-neighborhood’s bin as Young Adults, a life stage that only exists on campus. From there you place them into a dorm (cheapest, roommates provided), a rented house, or a Greek house if one is set up. A Sim can also be created directly as a Young Adult in Create a Sim inside the university neighborhood.
The teen’s age matters only in one way: however far they were from adulthood, they leave for college as-is, and their age clock is replaced by the college calendar.
The Eight Semesters
College runs four years of two semesters each, and each semester is a 72-hour block that ends in a final exam. Your Sim’s grade for the semester comes from class attendance, time spent on assignments and research, and skill points in the major’s relevant skills. Attend class when the carpool arrives (or walk if it is close), do assignments at a desk, and keep the grade bar above the line. Fall too far behind and the Sim is put on academic probation, then expelled, and a Young Adult expelled or dropped out returns home as an Adult with no degree.
Majors are declared through the phone or computer by the end of sophomore year; each major favors different skills and feeds a different career. Campus life also brings its own wants, influence, the Secret Society and the Greek system. Young Adults can Woohoo with each other, so the Sims 2 Woohoo guide applies on campus too.
You can leave the campus and go play the home neighborhood at any point; the students freeze in place until you return, so there is no risk of missing a semester while you are away.
Graduating and Coming Home
When the last final exam is passed, the Sim graduates, can throw a graduation party, and is moved back to the main neighborhood’s family bin as an Adult. They keep their skills, their memories and friendships, and their degree, which unlocks four graduate-only careers and lets a Sim start higher on the ladder in others. See how to get a job for what those careers pay. They also keep whatever money was in their college household, so the scholarships come back with them.
Place the graduate into a new lot or move them in with family from the bin. Our move household guide covers the bin and phone routes.
What the Legacy Patches Fixed
Several University issues shipped with the January 2025 relaunch and were cleared over the following weeks; the guide is verified against those notes. The February 27, 2025 patch (#5) fixed “Wants go missing after a teen goes to University and game focus is kept on them” and “Several game issues occurred when a University-lot pre-made Sim graduates and relocates to the home neighborhood.” The April 3, 2025 patch (#7) fixed the user interface panel disappearing after the college send-off animation. If any of those still happen to you, your copy has not updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need the University expansion in the Legacy Collection? It is already included. The Legacy Collection ships every expansion pack, so there is nothing extra to buy or enable.
Can an adult go to university? No. Only teens can enrol, and only the Young Adult stage exists on campus. Adults can visit a campus lot but cannot take classes.
How long does college take? Four years of two semesters, and each semester is 72 in-game hours on the campus clock. Time in the main neighborhood does not pass while you play the students.
What happens if my Sim drops out? They return home as an Adult with no degree. Skills, money and relationships are kept, but the graduate careers stay locked.
Can I send a teen who has bad grades? Yes. Grades affect scholarships, not admission, so a D student can still go; they simply arrive with less money.
For the rest of the series, including Sims 3 and Sims 4 equivalents, browse our Sims hub.