Since 1898 Northeastern University has been edifying students in Boston and beyond. The school enrolls roughly 20,000 students who hail from all 50 states and 125 countries around the world. Its nine colleges (and 1,000 faculty members) offer 100 undergraduate programs and 170 graduate programs in areas such as the arts, business, engineering, and law. Northeastern has a student-teacher ratio of about 15:1. Its highly-regarded cooperative education program integrates classroom learning with real-world experience; students typically alternate between school and paid full-time work, and leave with up to two years of professional experience. Northeastern started out as a night school housed in a YMCA facility.