Nearly 500 Public
Colleges Vow To Award 3.8 Million By 2025
Albany – State University of
New York Chancellor Nancy L. Zimpher today announced that SUNY and nearly 500
public colleges across the country have signed on to “A Commitment to the
Future,” which aims to boost the nation’s degree attainment to 60
percent by awarding an additional 3.8 million baccalaureate
degrees between now and 2025. The commitment includes pledges to
reduce time to degree, enhance academic quality, and curtail college costs.
“Like public colleges
throughout the country, SUNY is committed to providing students with a higher
education of the highest quality – an education that is not only affordable but
also attainable and useful in today’s job market,” said Chancellor Zimpher.
“SUNY is proud to endorse a national goal that will position the U.S. as the
world leader in post-secondary degree attainment.”
Through Project Degree
Completion: A Public University Initiative, the institutions will increase
the number of college degrees they award from an estimated 14.6 million to 18.4
million over the next 14 years. Collectively, public colleges and universities
currently award just over 1 million degrees annually.
The initiative was led by
the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and
the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). The commitment,
which SUNY helped to craft, fits in strongly with the system’s goals to
increase access and success. Related SUNY efforts include:
- Connecting the Transfer
Dots: SUNY has recently built
upon its system-wide transfer of general education credits to include core
courses in the majors chosen by 95% of transfer students. Guaranteed
transfer of these two curriculum components is the basis of seamless
transfer for community college graduates. SUNY is working to align degree
requirements for A.A. and A.S. programs, as well as all bachelor's
programs to the guaranteed course matrix.
- Opening the Door to
Online Education: Open SUNY has
the potential to be the nation’s most extensive distance learning
environment, connecting students with faculty and peers from across the
state and throughout the world to give them access to the best in open
educational resources. Using a combination of online courses, new on-line
degrees, an expanded YouTube channel, and a new presence on iTunes U.
- Turning Access into
Completion: SUNY is working to
ensure that students who enroll in SUNY seeking a degree will have the
courses and support needed to graduate on time. Each campus will set
targets to improve its completion rates. These targets will be set by the
SUNY Council of Presidents and once agreed upon, will be included as a
factor in presidential evaluations.
- New York State
Completion Day: The SUNY
community colleges will celebrate NYS Completion Day tomorrow, Wednesday,
Oct. 3. The Day, which will include events at all campuses, is meant to
send a message to all prospective students that completing an associate
degree ensures greater opportunities for scholarship and transfer
throughout their college career and generates more job prospects following
graduation.
Many SUNY colleges also signed
the commitment, including: UAlbany, Alfred State College, Binghamton
University, College at Brockport, Buffalo State College, University at Buffalo,
SUNY Cobleskill, SUNY Cortland, SUNY Delhi, SUNY Downstate, Empire State
College, SUNY ESF, Farmingdale State College, SUNY Geneseo, Purchase College,
SUNY Fredonia, Maritime College, SUNY New Paltz, College of Optometry, SUNY
Oswego, SUNY Old Westbury, SUNY Oneonta, SUNY Plattsburgh, SUNY Potsdam, and
Stony Brook University.
About the State University
of New York
The State University of New
York is the largest comprehensive university system in the United States,
educating approximately 468,000 students in more than 7,500 degree and
certificate programs on 64 campuses with nearly 3 million alumni around the
globe. To learn more about how SUNY creates opportunity, visit www.suny.edu.
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