Mills College in Oakland is closing to become an institute FacebookTwitterEmail Mills College is an independent liberal arts and sciences college in the San Francisco Bay Area.John S Lander/LightRocket via Getty Images The 169-year-old Mills College, one of the few women's colleges in California, announced Wednesday it's shifting from a degree-giving college to an institute promoting women's leadership. After fall 2021, Mills will no longer enroll new-first year undergraduate students and it will likely confer its final degrees in 2023, pending further consideration and action by the board of trustees, Elizabeth Hillman, the school's president, said in a letter posted online.