About

The City University of New York is the nation's leading urban public university serving more than 480,000 students at 24 colleges and institutions in New York City. The University’s 24 institutions include 11 senior colleges, seven community colleges, the William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, the Graduate School and University Center, the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism, the CUNY School of Law, the CUNY School of Professional Studies, and the CUNY School of Public Health. <read more>

The City University of New York’s 164-year-old story is one of civic inspiration, responsiveness to public needs, and unshakable commitment to an idea: that quality higher education should be accessible and affordable for all. From its establishment in 1847 as the Free Academy to its existence today as New York City’s 24-campus public institution of higher learning, CUNY has hewed to its mission as it has evolved to meet the diverse needs of an ever-changing city.

"Open the doors to all…. Let the children of the rich and the poor take their seats together and know of no distinction save that of industry, good conduct and intellect,” declared Townsend Harris, president of the city’s Board of Education, upon his founding of the Free Academy in a single building at Lexington Avenue and 23rd Street in Manhattan. His bold idea: to offer a free education to the children of immigrants and poorer city residents based on academic worth, not wealth.
It was the mid-19th century – the start of the Second Industrial Revolution – and the plan to prepare New Yorkers, native or newly arrived, for work and the professions was seen as a necessity. The plan was ratified through statewide referendum.

The Academy offered both vocational training and a traditional university curriculum. It proved a success. Enrollment increased, as did the Academy’s reputation. In 1866, it was renamed the College of the City of New York, and during the 1890s, a plot of land in Harlem, between 138th and 140th Streets, was selected for its campus.  But the college never entirely left its downtown roots. Its School of Business and Civic Administration opened in 1919 in the original Free Academy building. In 1958, it was renamed for the financier and CCNY alumnus Bernard Baruch.

In 1870, building upon the Academy’s principles, the Normal College of the City of New York was established as a free college for women. Open to all, regardless of race, religion or ethnic background, its primary function was to train city teachers. Guided by its first president, Irish immigrant Thomas Hunter, the Normal College offered rigorous academics and by 1920 boasted the highest enrollment of any municipally funded U.S. women’s college. Its growth prompted a move from an East Fourth Street armory into a distinctive, neo-Gothic structure on Park Avenue between 68th and 69th Streets, part of which still stands today.

Renamed Hunter College in 1914, the Manhattan campus has quadrupled in size with expansion of its educational boundaries and enrollment. In Hunter’s early years, the New York State Legislature approved the establishment of a high school and elementary school. Like its namesake college, Hunter College High School has produced scores of notable alumni, including Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan.

In the early 20th century, CCNY and Hunter reached into the city’s outer boroughs.

Their Brooklyn campuses merged in 1930 to form Brooklyn College, the third institution to branch out from the Free Academy, and it acquired a campus in Flatbush distinguished by Georgian-style buildings. The Queens branches merged in 1937 to found Queens College to serve the borough’s burgeoning population. It is located in Flushing, in a collection of red-roofed mission-style buildings that had housed delinquent boys. Today, Queens’ “urban-suburban” campus covers 77 acres.

In the post-World War I era, when Ivy League universities discriminated against Jews, many Jewish academics and intellectuals taught and studied at New York’s public colleges. The CCNY of the 1930s was also a place where the political movements of the day, particularly leftist ones, were hotly debated, giving rise to a number of noted 20th-century intellectuals.

The ’30s saw further expansion. Hunter-in-the-Bronx opened in four buildings, constructed by the state Works Progress Administration, near the Jerome Park Reservoir. In its first decade, it served women taking their first two years of Hunter studies. During World War II, the Navy used the campus to train the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service); after the war, it provided temporary quarters for the United Nations.

Post-World War II, the GI Bill fueled an enrollment boom at the public colleges and further expansion and transformation. New York City College of Technology opened in 1946. CCNY began admitting women during the 1950s; in 1951, all-female Hunter-in-the-Bronx opened to men and introduced a four-year curriculum. Three two-year community colleges opened: Staten Island Community College in 1955, Bronx Community College in 1957 and Queensborough Community College in 1957.

Students who were admitted into degree programs attended tuition free. Others who attended as part-time, nonmatriculated students paid tuition as did students seeking master's degrees. In 1960, 91,000 students were enrolled in the city’s public four-year colleges – City, Hunter, Brooklyn and Queens – and in the three community colleges. That year, a committee of the city’s Board of Higher Education, which oversaw the colleges, proposed they be reorganized into a new, public university that would have Ph.D.-granting authority. The recommendation followed expansion moves by the State University of New York, which had been established in 1948.

In 1961, Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller signed the bill that reformulated the College of the City of New York into The City University of New York, a tuition-free public institution uniting the seven colleges and giving the new University authority to offer doctoral programs. Dr. John R. Everett, a highly regarded educator and former philosophy professor, was selected as its first Chancellor. Dr. Mina Rees, a noted mathematician and Hunter’s Dean of Faculty, was named Dean of Graduate Studies for the Graduate Center.

As the city’s population and demand for affordable higher education soared, CUNY expanded. John Jay College of Criminal Justice was founded in 1964 and York College in 1966. In 1968, Hunter-in-the Bronx was renamed Lehman College after four-time Gov. Herbert H. Lehman and established as a separate CUNY school. Medgar Evers College, named for the slain civil-rights leader, was founded in 1970, and in 1976, the four-year College of Staten Island resulted from the merger of Richmond and Staten Island Community Colleges.

New community colleges opened: Borough of Manhattan and Kingsborough in 1963, LaGuardia in 1968, and Hostos in 1970.

The 1960s were pivotal. As entry to CUNY’s colleges became more competitive, protestors agitated for more access for minority students. Following demands for change, the University established “open admissions,” which offered a free education to any city resident with a high school diploma or equivalency degree; many thousands of students surged into CUNY schools during the 1970s.

Then came the New York City fiscal crisis, and another change in 1975: CUNY began charging tuition, albeit a fraction of that at other private and public colleges.

Throughout the next decade, enrollment dipped, in part due to a perception that CUNY’s academic quality had declined. In 1999, a mayoral task force chaired by Benno Schmidt – later chairperson of the Board of Trustees – proposed an overhaul to reverse the downward trend.

The University, led by a new chancellor, Matthew Goldstein, amended its open admissions policy. Open admissions and remedial classes for students needing them would be offered at the community colleges. Students would meet grade or exam criteria to gain admission to the four-year senior colleges.

These and other critical changes pressed by Chancellor Goldstein – including a focus on science, creation of new professional schools, and an innovative University funding strategy – have revitalized CUNY. Its 24 institutions now include Macaulay Honors College, CUNY Law School, CUNY School of Journalism and the CUNY School of Public Health. State-of-the-art research facilities, recruitment of accomplished full-time faculty, and plans for a new community college are also driving the renaissance.

Today, CUNY attracts record numbers of students, including high academic achievers and winners of prestigious Rhodes, Truman and Goldwater scholarships. Federal and state aid covers education costs for the neediest students, while tuition increases have traditionally been small. The University has embarked on fund-raising and other steps to cope with strained resources. As in its earliest days, CUNY meets New York City’s needs, educating for in-demand professions and turning out a prepared work force.

Despite the challenges, the University remains committed to academic quality at an affordable price. Fulfilling its earliest promise, led with passion and commitment, CUNY continues to evolve to meet the educational needs of a remarkably diverse student body and city.

Serving more than 243,000 degree-credit students and 273,000 continuing and professional education students, the University confers 35,000 degrees each year - more than 1.1 million associate, baccalaureate, master's and doctoral degrees since 1967. CUNY plays a crucial role in the life and economy of the city and state. As of 2007, 54 percent of undergraduates and 46 percent of all college students in New York City were attending CUNY. College Now, CUNY's academic enrichment program for 46,000 high school students, is offered at CUNY campuses and at more than 343 high schools. Online baccalaureate degrees are offered by the School of Professional Studies.

	Chancellor's Message/Mission A commitment to providing first-rate academic opportunities for students of all backgrounds: That has been The City University of New York’s mission since its founding in 1847. Today, CUNY is a higher education destination, a magnet for talented students including three Rhodes Scholars selected since 2005. Enrollment is at record levels, and high-achieving students increasingly choose CUNY colleges, recognizing their great value and paths to professional success. <read more> Teaching, research and public service are the hallmarks of the best universities, and CUNY is deeply committed to all three. Our world-class faculty members have won nearly every award in their fields, and increasing our full-time teaching ranks is a top priority. CUNY has emerged as one of the nation's premier research institutions: Our planned, state-of-the-art Advanced Science Research Center is already drawing renowned scientists to the University. CUNY invigorates the city and state through partnerships with public schools, economic development initiatives, immigration and financial advice hotlines, and other outreach. We provide New York with graduates trained for high-demand jobs in the sciences, technology, math, teaching, nursing and other critical and growing fields. From the William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY, to graduate offerings including the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism and the CUNY School of Public Health at Hunter College, to customized certificates for working professionals, our students find intellectual challenge through convenient, affordable courses of study. Flexible schedules, financial aid, child care and other services give them every opportunity to achieve their educational goals.
	Academics and Faculty From certificate courses to the Ph.D., CUNY provides post-secondary learning at every level, in every field of interest: 1,750 programs, more than 230 majors leading to associate and baccalaureate degrees, and more than 160 graduate-degree majors. CUNY’s 6,700 full-time teaching faculty members include prominent experts in virtually every field of human endeavor. Guggenheim Fellows, Pulitzer Prize winners and two U.S. Poet Laureates have taught at CUNY, and more than 80 percent of full-time professors hold the highest degrees in their fields. Expanding the ranks of full-time faculty is one of CUNY’s highest priorities.
	Research and Libraries With more than 100 nationally recognized research centers, CUNY is one of the nation’s premier research institutions, promoting discovery in the sciences and engineering as well as in the arts, education and humanities. The state-of-the-art, 200,000-square-foot Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC), to open in 2012 at The City College, will be the University’s hub of groundbreaking research in photonics, nanotechnology, water and environmental sensing, structural biology and neuroscience, important work that is already underway at CUNY. CUNY’s 30 libraries contain 7.6 million volumes, 30,000 periodicals, and a wealth of microfilms, music scores, records, slides, tapes, videos and other materials. Libraries also license books and journals in electronic format; many of these are available through the Internet. All CUNY students can use any CUNY library.
	The Student Body CUNY students are remarkably diverse, tracing their ancestries to 205 countries. African-American, white and Hispanic undergraduates each comprise more than a quarter of the student body, and Asians more than 15 percent. Forty-seven percent of undergraduates have a native language other than English, 41 percent work more than 20 hours a week, 63 percent attend school full time, and 15 percent support children. Nearly 60 percent are female and 29 percent are 25 or older. Of first-time freshmen, 37 percent are born outside the U.S. mainland and nearly 70 percent attended New York City public high schools.
	21st Century Facilities From the traditional to the architecturally innovative, 300 buildings with almost 26 million square feet of space comprise CUNY’s physical plant, with campuses ranging from The City College’s neo-Gothic buildings on St. Nicholas Heights to Baruch College’s Newman Vertical Campus in midtown Manhattan, to the bucolic College of Staten Island. CUNY buildings house state-of-the-art computer centers, science and language laboratories, gymnasiums, theaters, greenhouses and astronomy observatories.
	The William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY The William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY provides an enhanced undergraduate education to academically gifted students, drawing on the University’s resources and New York’s cultural, scientific, government and business communities to provide a broad, challenging liberal arts education. City College alumnus William E. Macaulay’s $30 million gift in 2006 established a home and endowment for the college. Private funding helps provide full tuition, scholarships, laptops and academic expense accounts.
	Accomplished Alumni CUNY graduates include 12 Nobel Laureates, among the highest number from any public university in the country. Our outstanding alumni have included a U.S. Secretary of State, a Supreme Court Justice, mayors, members of Congress, state legislators, scientists, an astronaut, actors, singers, composers, writers and inventors. More top U.S. corporate executives earned their bachelor’s degrees at The City University of New York than at any other university in the country, according to a national survey conducted by Standard & Poor’s. In 2009, four of New York City’s five borough presidents were CUNY alumni.
	College Prep CUNY’s many programs to strengthen academic skills and provide advanced placement courses include the College Now enrichment program for high school students; remedial classes in community colleges, and SEEK and College Discovery for economically and educationally disadvantaged students. CUNY offers 86 degree-credit English as a Second Language classes, and a CUNY Language Immersion Program for to help entering freshmen improve their English.
	Financial Aid New York City Council Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarships and individual scholarships offered by CUNY colleges complement federal and state grants and loans. Graduates of New York City high schools with a B or better average who are accepted to CUNY, may be eligible for Vallone Scholarships. Of full-time undergraduate CUNY degree students, 70 percent receive financial aid, from federal Pell grants and state TAP awards, to federal work-study. Annually, students receive more than $600 million from a variety of sources to help meet the cost of attending CUNY.
	CUNY Welcome Center The CUNY Welcome Center provides one-stop admission advisement to prospective high school students, current college students and returning adults and veterans. Assistance to high school college advisors, CBO professionals and parents is also available. Welcome Center services, location directions and hours of operation >>