Kyle Rittenhouse Says He’s Going to Blinn College, After Texas A&M Said He’s Not Enrolled

Kyle Rittenhouse looks on as the jury is let out of the room during a break during his trial at the Kenosha County Courthouse in Kenosha, Wis., on Nov. 15, 2021. Sean Krajacic/The Kenosha News via AP, Pool

Kyle Rittenhouse said Monday that he is planning to attend Blinn College, a two-year community college in southeastern Texas.

Rittenhouse—whose college plans drew national attention following the high-profile trial that found his killing of two protesters in August 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin, was in self-defense, acquitting him of all charges against him—said he was left with little time to properly prepare for college.

The 18-year-old previously said he was going to Texas A&M University. He has now clarified that the actual plan is to first take courses at Blinn College and eventually transfer the credits he earns there to Texas A&M.

“Unfortunately, the end of my high school career was robbed from me,” the 18-year-old wrote on Twitter. “I didn’t have the time other students get to properly prepare for the future. I look forward to attending Blinn College District this year, a feeder school for Texas A&M. I’m excited to join Texas A&M in 2023!”

During a Jun. 3 appearance on a talk show hosted by Charlie Kirk of Turning Point USA, Rittenhouse revealed his intent to attend Texas A&M by replacing his baseball cap with one with the university’s logo on it.

“I’m gonna be going there, and it’s gonna be awesome,” Rittenhouse said in the interview, praising the university’s “beautiful campus, amazing people, amazing food.”

Rittenhouse didn’t specify during the show whether he had applied and was accepted or that he is going to apply in the future. A university official later confirmed that he is not a student there, at least for the upcoming fall semester.

“[Rittenhouse] has not been admitted to Texas A&M this fall,” Associate Vice President for Marketing & Communications Kelly Brown said in an email to The Battalion, the university’s student-run newspaper.

In November 2021, after his acquittal, Rittenhouse told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson that he now wants to “just go on with my life as a normal 18-year-old kid attending college” and be free from harassment.

“I am in college. I’m a student at Arizona State University,” he said, adding that he would like to live on campus and study either nursing or law.

Rittenhouse at that time was enrolled in a non-degree-seeking online nursing program at ASU. He later said in a NewsNation interview that he “took a compassionate withdrawal” from that program because he “got overwhelmed with the trial coming on,” and was planning to “re-enroll in those classes so I can finish them up and pursue my career in nursing.”

The mere possibility that Rittenhouse might apply for ASU and be admitted as a student had sparked outrage among the campus left. Progressive groups such as MEChA (Movimiento Estudiantil Chicanx de Aztlán), Students for Socialism, Students for Justice in Palestine, and the Multicultural Solidarity Coalition staged a protest, demanding that the university make sure to not admit him.