SUNY enrollment hits record high

ALBANY -- The State University of New York enrolled 25,458 more students in the fall 2009 semester than it did one year ago, bringing the total enrollment number to 464,981, the largest ever in SUNY history.

The six-percent increase in enrollment from 2008 to 2009 is also the largest single-year increase in SUNY history, said SUNY chancellor Nancy Zimpher.

Enrollment grew fastest at community colleges, with 14 community colleges reporting growth of more than 10 percent.

Some of the enrollment highlights released by SUNY include: 

• The 30 SUNY Community Colleges continue to enroll more students, 242,742, than the four-year campuses, 222,239.
• Enrollments grew by 9.8 percent over the prior year at the community colleges.
• Fourteen community colleges reported growth of more than 10 percent and Adirondack, Dutchess, Suffolk, and Ulster community colleges grew more than 15 percent. All 30 community colleges grew at least four percent.
• Fueling the growth at the community colleges was an increase of 10.8 percent in first time full-time students, a 21.4 percent increase in new transfer students, and an 11.8 percent increase in continuing students.
• 222,239 students enrolled at the baccalaureate and doctoral granting campuses, 3,711 more students than in the prior year, an increase of 1.7 percent.
• The Colleges of Technology at Alfred State, Canton, and Delhi; Empire State College, Upstate Medical University, and the College at Old Westbury grew enrollment by more than 5 percent.

For more enrollment numbers and reports, click here.