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MCC Daily Tribune

Governor Hochul Announces Increased Enrollment Across SUNY Campuses

For First Time in a Decade, Year-to-Year Total System-Wide Enrollment Increased 

Undergraduate First-Time Student Enrollment Up Across All Sectors, 4.3 Percent System-Wide from Fall 2022 to Fall 2023 

View SUNY’s Enrollment Data (suny.edu) (PDF).

Governor Kathy Hochul today announced increased enrollment across the State University of New York campuses. For the first time in a decade, year-to-year total system-wide student enrollment increased, up 1.1 percent overall from Fall 2022 to Fall 2023 for a total of 367,542 students. Undergraduate first-time enrollment – a leading indicator – was up across all sectors at 4.3 percent, a promising increase as SUNY works to fulfill the Governor’s vision to transform higher education into a path to upward mobility. The technology sector showed the strongest increase at 13.3 percent, followed by community colleges at 3.9 percent. 

 “New York continues to make important progress towards building the best public higher education system in the country and as a result, more young students are choosing SUNY,” Governor Hochul said. “I know firsthand that access to higher education is an engine for social mobility. That’s why I will continue to make important investments in our higher education systems and take steps to ensure college is affordable and accessible for students of all backgrounds.”   

SUNY Chancellor John B. King, Jr. presented the enrollment data during a special meeting of the SUNY Board of Trustees. His presentation can be found at the following link: SUNY’s Enrollment Data (suny.edu) (PDF) which provides a breakdown per sector and by campus. 

SUNY Chancellor King said, “There is a place at SUNY for every New Yorker, and the great news is that more students across the state are discovering their SUNY success stories. Governor Hochul and the legislature have made a significant investment in higher education, and we are pleased to see more New Yorkers taking advantage of everything our campuses have to offer—an excellent and affordable education that can empower them to pursue their career and life goals. We will continue reaching out to students and adult learners across our state to ensure they know about the opportunities on our campuses and the financial aid available to help get them there.” 

SUNY Board of Trustees said, "We are proud to see SUNY's system-wide enrollment increase for the first time in a decade. Thanks to the extraordinary leadership of the Governor and that of Chancellor King, we know SUNY can continue to build momentum and grow enrollment going forward. To do so, we must keep creating, increasing, and enhancing opportunities for all New Yorkers to attend SUNY, because a college degree or certificate is increasingly crucial for upwardly mobile New Yorkers.”

Under Governor Hochul’s direction, last spring SUNY sent a personalized letter to every New York State high school senior outside of New York City confirming they were automatically admitted at their local community college to attend this fall. High school seniors in New York City received personalized letters this fall encouraging them to explore their future at SUNY. 

Chancellor King and the SUNY Board of Trustees thanked former Interim Chancellor Deborah F. Stanley for her contributions to increasing enrollment during her year-long term, including launching the first-ever two-week college application fee waiver initiative. 

Additional enrollment initiatives include the SUNY Match – where students who are not admitted to their initial choices are admitted to participating campuses; Transfer Match – in which participating campuses offer direct admission to students graduating from SUNY community colleges; and the Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) Match – in which EOP applicants who are not admitted to their initial choice campuses on academic criteria are offered EOP consideration to participating campuses, pending financial eligibility review. 

Last month, the SUNY Board of Trustees also approved an application fee waiver for all AmeriCorps alumni. SUNY has ongoing fee waivers that apply to 60 percent of all high school seniors. Students in foster care, with military connections, low-income students, and students at 500+ designated high schools can apply to up to seven SUNY campuses for free, saving up to $350 any time during the year. In addition, the application fee waiver applies to students on track to receiving an associate degree at a SUNY community college so they can apply to a bachelor’s degree granting SUNY campus. For more information about ongoing application wavier fee program visit Application Fee Waivers - SUNY .

SUNY is also expanding efforts to support students to complete their degrees, including through a 25-campus replication of Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) and Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE) – national models to improve retention and completion, pioneered at CUNY, that have been proven effective through randomized controlled trials – as well as Re-Enroll to Complete, the SUNY campaign to work with and re-enroll students who had withdrawn from SUNY with earned credits, student loan debt, and no degree. 

The application for Fall 2024 is open. To learn more about applying to SUNY, visit  Apply to SUNY - SUNY. Applicants can apply at ApplySUNY or by using the Common App. 

About The State University of New York 

The State University of New York, which celebrates its 75th anniversary this year, is the largest comprehensive system of higher education in the United States, and more than 95 percent of all New Yorkers live within 30 miles of any one of SUNY’s 64 colleges and universities. Across the system, SUNY has four academic health centers, five hospitals, four medical schools, two dental schools, a law school, the country’s oldest school of maritime, the state’s only college of optometry, and manages one US Department of Energy National Laboratory. In total, SUNY serves about 1.4 million students amongst its entire portfolio of credit- and non-credit-bearing courses and programs, continuing education, and community outreach programs. SUNY oversees nearly a quarter of academic research in New York. Research expenditures system-wide are nearly $1.1 billion in fiscal year 2022, including significant contributions from students and faculty. There are more than three million SUNY alumni worldwide, and one in three New Yorkers with a college degree is a SUNY alum. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunities, visit www.suny.edu.

Patrick Morris
Community Relations
11/16/2023