The 140-year old Jesuit college of New Jersey, Saint Peter's College is in celebratory mode. Founded as a small liberal arts school in Jersey City, Saint Peter's has finally graduated from college becoming the city's newest university.

School officials say Tuesday marks the official change of the institution from a college to a university. Saint Peter's will be the state's third Catholic university, joining Seton Hall and Georgian Court, NJ.com reported.

The leap from college to university comes after years of expansion at the 3,000-student school, which began adding graduate programs in the 1990s. Rochelle Hendricks, New Jersey state's higher education secretary, approved Saint Peter's application for university status earlier this year.

Though it will have a new name and plans to further expand its graduate programs, Saint Peter's original mission will remain as a Jesuit liberal arts college focused on undergraduates.

"Our basic way of operating is not going to change," said Eugene Cornacchia, president of Saint Peter's. "Those are components of the college that will never change."

The school has reassured the students that there won't be any hike in the annual college fees because of a change in the status.

The criterion for university status varies from state to state. In most cases, schools are required to offer master's or doctoral programs in order to call themselves universities.

In the 1990s New Jersey began relaxing its rules on granting university status, allowing colleges to become universities if they expanded their graduate programs, added majors and built up their libraries. Kean, Rider, Monmouth, William Paterson, Montclair State and Georgian Court were among the schools that became universities under the new rules.