Resources to Find New York Colleges

Where to Start Looking to Find a College in New York

Families interested in New York colleges should start with the New York State Higher Education Services Corporation (HESC). The “Pay for College” section offers detailed information on financial aid programs, a list of state scholarships, and how to compare financial aid award letters. It explains the New York State Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) which can provide an additional $5000 a year to qualified students. You can also view a video on completing the FAFSA

The website links to the “Go College New York” website also sponsored by HESC. This is more of the common one-stop shopping website. It doesn’t bother with its own college search engine, it just sends you to the College Navigator website. Users will find the usual checklist for high school students by year. There is a college fair calendar and a college planning worksheet. Students can watch a series of videos comparing two students, one who goes to college, one who doesn’t.

Students interested in transferring from a community college to a State University of New York school should visit SUNY’s course equivalencies page. Otherwise, they should check with the schools they are interested in transferring to for more information. If you’re looking for help in completing the FAFSA, College Goal NY offers help as part of the College Goal Sunday program.

Some Numbers to Help You Find a College

There are 124 four-year New York colleges with 500 or more full-time undergraduates.  Unlike other states, a slight majority (51.4%)of the 539,582 full-time students attend the state’s 84 private colleges compared to the 40 public institutions (48.6%).

The average four-year graduation rate for private New York colleges is 49.2% and the five-year rate for public-institutions is 49.4%. A total of 37 schools meet the DIY College Rankings 50-50 profile requirements.

The average SAT Critical Reading score for college-bound seniors in New York was 488 and the math scores was 502. The 75th percentile scores were 560 and 590 respectively. A total of 54 colleges had 75th percentile scores were equal to or higher in both categories.

The top 20 colleges SAT test takers in New York applied to:

• SUNY University at Stony Brook
• SUNY University at Binghamton
• SUNY University at Buffalo
• SUNY University at Albany
• SUNY College at New Paltz
• Fordham University
• Cornell University
• St. John’s University
• New York University
• City University of New York: Hunter College
• SUNY College at Oneonta
• Syracuse University
• Boston University
• SUNY College at Cortland
• SUNY College at Geneseo
• Hofstra University
• Northeastern University
• SUNY College at Oswego
• SUNY College at Buffalo
• City University of New York: Baruch College

New York Colleges Conferences and Divisions

List of New York Colleges

In the following table, the four-year graduation rate is used for private colleges and the five-year rate for public colleges. The data are based on the data available from IPEDS in December of 2014 which are available on the DIY College Search spreadsheet.

New York Colleges with Test Scores and Graduation Rates
(download PDF for a limited time)

Name	Type	Full-time Under- grads	4/5 Yr Grad Rate	% Admitted	SAT CR 75th%	SAT Math 75th%	ACT 75th%	Net Price
Adelphi University	Private	4531	53	68	600	620	24	24833
Albany Coll of Pharm & Health Sci	Private	1059	72	63	620	650	29	29346
Alfred University	Private	1909	45	70	590	610	27	20055
American Musical & Dramatic Academy	Private	1365		26				35687
Bard College	Private	1916	60	38				26774
Barnard College	Private	2463	82	21	730	710	32	23852
Boricua College	Private	1050	29					17226
Buffalo State SUNY	Public	8293	45	49	520	540		10911
Canisius College	Private	2825	58	73	590	610	27	19668
Cazenovia College	Private	937	53	78				18352
Central Yeshiva Tomchei Tmimim Lubavitz	Private	650	0	100				16809
Clarkson University	Private	3084	61	64	620	665	28	25782
Colgate University	Private	2871	87	26	720	740	32	22038
College of Mount Saint Vincent	Private	1489	37	73	500	500	23	19873
College of Staten Island CUNY	Public	9784	46	100	530	560		7117
Columbia University	Private	7374	86	7	780	790	34	20740
Concordia College-New York	Private	812	28	67	500	505	20	17944
Cooper Union for the Adv of Sci and Art	Private	863	68	8	710	780	33	17263
Cornell University	Private	14380	87	16	740	780	34	25652
Culinary Institute of America	Private	2814		90				32878
CUNY Bernard M Baruch College	Public	10396	60	25	630	690		7955
CUNY Brooklyn College	Public	9543	44	32	580	620		6637
CUNY City College	Public	9274	32	34	590	640		5820
CUNY Hunter College	Public	11747	42	30	620	640		7518
CUNY John Jay Coll of Criminal Justice	Public	10374	39	34	510	530		5552
CUNY Lehman College	Public	5643	30	23	530	570		4790
CUNY Medgar Evers College	Public	4267	12	91	450	475		8060
CUNY New York City College of Tech	Public	10318	20	77	490	540		6157
CUNY Queens College	Public	10769	47	37	570	610		6200
CUNY York College	Public	5153	20	35	470	510		5855
Daemen College	Private	1720	27	49				17300
Dominican College of Blauvelt	Private	1280	21	72	490	480	23	22173
Dowling College	Private	1455	18	78				23799
D'Youville College	Private	1614	19	79	580	560	25	18421
Elmira College	Private	1188	60	80	570	580	27	22908
Farmingdale State College	Public	6074	41	53	510	540	23	9219
Fashion Institute of Technology	Public	7257		45				9321
Fordham University	Private	7694	76	47	670	680	30	35105
Hamilton College	Private	1905	90	27	730	740	33	20755
Hartwick College	Private	1579	54	84	620	610	27	25962
Hilbert College	Private	884	31	81				14778
Hobart William Smith Colleges	Private	2324	74	49				34302
Hofstra University	Private	6378	50	59	630	630	28	30947
Houghton College	Private	1023	65	91	630	605	28	20920
Iona College	Private	3110	53	92	550	560	24	27474
Ithaca College	Private	6131	69	67				32769
Keuka College	Private	1514	36	88				25365
Le Moyne College	Private	2401	63	62	570	600	26	22987
LIU Brooklyn	Private	4195	8	87	500	540	22	24082
LIU Post	Private	3661	22	81	520	540	23	25111
Manhattan College	Private	3195	60	66	580	610	27	26151
Manhattanville College	Private	1611	54	77	590	590		24334
Marist College	Private	4924	70	37				33526
Marymount Manhattan College	Private	1593	37	75	590	560	26	32931
Medaille College	Private	1585	38	54	480	490		13057
Mercy College	Private	5547	23	57				15622
Metropolitan College of New York	Private	851	18	55				18858
Molloy College	Private	2693	39	73	560	580	25	22464
Morrisville State College	Public	2668	25	59	500	530	21	15432
Mount Saint Mary College	Private	1742	41	86	540	550	24	25403
Nazareth College	Private	1901	59	68				25997
New York Institute of Technology	Private	3704	25	74	550	600	24	22600
New York University	Private	21365	77	26	720	740	32	34268
Niagara University	Private	2719	60	66	550	570	25	17586
Nyack College	Private	1515	24	97	535	520	22	18701
Pace University-New York	Private	7116	34	77	570	570	25	27466
Paul Smiths College of Arts and Science	Private	969	26	75	530	530	25	23636
Polytechnic Institute of New York Uni	Private	2033	33	75	660	740	32	28986
Pratt Institute-Main	Private	3202	42	56	630	640	28	38868
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute	Private	5423	65	41	720	768	31	36043
Roberts Wesleyan College	Private	1225	53	73	590	580	25	20445
Rochester Institute of Technology	Private	12106	28	60	640	680	31	27639
Saint John Fisher College	Private	2738	65	63	570	600	27	24002
Saint Joseph's College-New York	Private	3591	56	75	570	580	25	13476
Sarah Lawrence College	Private	1441	62	62				35207
Siena College	Private	3007	74	68	600	620	27	27932
Skidmore College	Private	2647	83	35	680	670	30	22529
St Bonaventure University	Private	1780	54	80	580	600	27	22593
St Francis College	Private	2456	27	64	510	520		12721
St John's University-New York	Private	10908	36	53	590	620	27	28503
St Lawrence University	Private	2397	77	46				29654
St Thomas Aquinas College	Private	1259	36	82	520	530	20	21531
State University of New York at New Paltz	Public	6060	68	44	610	610	27	13370
Stony Brook University	Public	14892	63	39	650	700	30	13421
SUNY at Albany	Public	12055	64	55	580	610	26	13979
SUNY at Binghamton	Public	12559	79	43	675	710	30	14914
SUNY at Fredonia	Public	4945	63	52	570	580	26	15664
SUNY at Purchase College	Public	3847	58	33	600	580	26	16080
SUNY College at Brockport	Public	6411	64	48	570	590	26	13498
SUNY College at Cortland	Public	6281	67	47	550	580	25	16029
SUNY College at Geneseo	Public	5386	77	46	690	700	29	15917
SUNY College at Old Westbury	Public	3558	32	58	530	550	22	7737
SUNY College at Oswego	Public	6954	56	49	590	590	26	15558
SUNY College at Plattsburgh	Public	5186	58	46	550	570	24	14116
SUNY College at Potsdam	Public	3596	49	68				13364
SUNY College of Agr and Tech at Cobleskill	Public	2267	40	73	540	540	22	14608
SUNY College of Env Sci and Forestry	Public	1647	69	51	620	640	27	17491
SUNY College of Technology at Alfred	Public	3222	47	55	570	610	26	13967
SUNY College of Technology at Canton	Public	2938	29	78				12065
SUNY College of Technology at Delhi	Public	2590	43	59				13406
SUNY Empire State College	Public	4218	13	81				13244
SUNY Institute of Tech at Utica-Rome	Public	1425	45	48	550	580	26	12810
SUNY Maritime College	Public	1517	44	64	570	600	26	15524
SUNY Oneonta	Public	5675	69	51	580	600	25	14667
Syracuse University	Private	14422	69	49	620	650	28	28917
The College of New Rochelle	Private	2755	16	57	520	535	25	31452
The College of Saint Rose	Private	2664	53	78				23910
The New School	Private	5878	50	67	635	605	28	42644
The Sage Colleges	Private	1446	52	57				17121
Touro College	Private	5139	31	59				14259
Trocaire College	Private	675		97				13943
Union College	Private	2225	82	37	680	720	31	34828
United States Merchant Marine Academy	Public	958	74					2528
United States Military Academy	Public	4591	83	9	695	690	30
United Talmudical Seminary	Private	1814	0					5773
University at Buffalo	Public	18091	68	57	600	660	28	13581
University of Rochester	Private	5837	77	36	700	750	32	31499
Uta Mesivta of Kiryas Joel	Private	1561	0					5756
Utica College	Private	2230	30	85	520	530	23	22764
Vassar College	Private	2437	90	24	740	730	33	18484
Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Tech	Private	1308	48	77	519	574		19534
Wagner College	Private	1765	53	70	630	640	27	27470
Wells College	Private	524	56	60	600	590	26	20186
Yeshiva University	Private	2782	60	82	680	690	29	26743