Swamy Vidyaprakasa Ananda Govt. Degree College for Men, Srikalahasthi was established in August 1966, with the initiative taken by Swami Vidyaprakasa Ananda of Sri Sukabrahma Ashram, a couple of miles away from the town.

The college is affiliated to Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati and accredited by National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) with "B" Grade.

The Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, decided to bifurcate the composite colleges in the state and therefore, the Intermediate courses were separated and retained in the school campus and the Degree Science sections along with the laboratories were shifted into the present campus in 1997. Now this college is offering only undergraduate courses for student strength of 1989. After the bifurcation, the lecturers are able to devote their time fully in imparting quality education to the students of B.A, B.Sc. & B.Com. This college has recognition under 2(f) and 12(b) of the UGC Act, since 1974.

The college was one of the pioneers in introducing restructured courses at the Degree Level and opted to start 5 self-funding courses in B.Sc., B.A., and B.Com. and they are B.Sc. (MPCS), B.Sc. (MSCS), B.Sc. (Bi.B.C.), B.A (H.E.CA.) and B.Com. (CA) in 1998. These restructured courses provide ample job opportunities. Undoubtedly, there is a great demand for these courses. Even though there is a great demand for these restructured courses, traditional courses like B.Sc. (MPC) and B.A (HEP) had to be retained with a need to accommodate the rural poor youth.

The Swamy being a great educationists and philosopher was moved at heart by the then prevailing conditions in and around this town. The students from the surrounding villages had to rush to long distances like Chennai and Tirupati to pursue higher education. The poor farmers belonging to this backward area could not afford to send their wards to distant places.

This is a backward area with agriculture as the major source of income. Pitying the lack of higher education among the people here, the Swami donated liberally Rs. 50,000 and pooled up another Rs. 50,000 from the local philanthropists as Corpus Fund for this college. The untiring efforts of Sri Adduri Balarama Reddy, the then M.L.A of Srikalahasthi and Education Minister of the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh, the active support of the citizens like Sri P.R. Madhava Rao and Sri S. Ramamurthy culminated in starting the college under the aegis of the Govt. of Andhra Pradesh. Later Sri Kalahasteeswara Swami Temple allocated the temple lands to the extent of 71.18 acres for the college, where the new college building came up in 1978.