Staunton Military Academy was a private all-male military school located in Staunton, Virginia. Founded in 1884, the academy closed in 1976. The school was highly regarded for its academic and military programs, and many notable American political and military leaders are graduates, including Sen. Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential candidate, and his son, Rep. Barry Goldwater Jr., 1960's folk singer Phil Ochs, and John Dean, a White House Counsel who was a central figure in the Watergate scandal of the early 1970s.

Mary Baldwin University is a private university in Staunton, Virginia. It was founded in 1842 as Augusta Female Seminary. Today, Mary Baldwin University is home to the Mary Baldwin College for Women, a residential college and women's college with a focus on liberal arts and leadership, as well as co-educational residential college for undergraduate programs within its University College structure. MBU also offers co-educational graduate degrees as well as undergraduate degree and certificate programs for working professionals and non-traditional students.