Here are the best colleges and universities in New York. Our list will help you find the right kind of school for you.
On average, tuition at New York’s higher education institutes comes in well-below the national average at about $7,900. Students have nearly 80 public school options to choose from, ranging in fees from $1,000 at the United States Merchant Marine Academy up to $10,000 at the University at Buffalo, the largest public university. However, some of the state’s private schools, such as New York University (NYU), charge tuition fees at a much higher cost.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
Although tuition fees at NYU average $52,000, students who attend this school have access to some of the best programs in fields like literature, business, medicine, communications, and law. The school also boasts famous alumni like Whoopi Goldberg and Jonas Salk. New York also offers close to 40 religiously affiliated schools. Students can expect to pay a wide range of tuition costs at these schools, but have the option to major in fields like social work, law, religious studies, business, and nursing.
They say New York is a place where dreams come true. Here, fashion, culture, food, business, art, and many languages comfortably coexist. While The Empire State’s metropolitan landmarks, like the iconic Brooklyn Bridge, are noteworthy, many forget New York also offers access to the Great Lakes, the Atlantic Ocean, and countless cozy cabins tucked away in the verdant Catskills Mountains. Additionally, New York is home to over 200 colleges and universities, making it easy for students to dream big while earning their degrees.
Explore some of the top programs New York higher education institutes have to offer, and make your educational and personal dreams come true.
Related: Differences between research universities and teaching colleges
We’ve identified 121 colleges and universities in New York that meet our criteria. This list of the top 30 colleges in New York below focuses on schools that offer bachelor’s degrees. The ranking features fully accredited public and private colleges and universities in New York.
Tuition + fees
$64K
Acceptance
4%
Graduation
97%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1515/34
Columbia University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$57K
Acceptance
13%
Graduation
87%
Student body
49K
Median SAT/ACT
1455/32
New York University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$61K
Acceptance
9%
Graduation
94%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1470/33
Cornell University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
41%
Graduation
86%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1420/32
University of Rochester’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
59%
Graduation
82%
Student body
22K
Syracuse University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
48%
Graduation
78%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1335/29
Stony Brook University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
64%
Graduation
57%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/27
City College of New York’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
63%
Graduation
80%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1275/27
Yeshiva University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
83%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1320/29
Fordham University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
74%
Student body
28K
Median SAT/ACT
1225/26
University at Buffalo’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$52K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
70%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1250/28
The New School’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$59K
Acceptance
53%
Graduation
84%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1400/31
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
51%
Graduation
56%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1100/25
Brooklyn College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Acceptance
11%
Graduation
84%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1325/30
United States Military Academy’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$60K
Acceptance
11%
Graduation
93%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1434/32
Barnard College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
44%
Graduation
84%
Student body
18K
Median SAT/ACT
1370/30
Binghamton University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
46%
Graduation
58%
Student body
20K
Median SAT/ACT
1255/28
Hunter College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$63K
Acceptance
20%
Graduation
93%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1440/33
Vassar College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
66%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1170/25
University at Albany, SUNY’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
51%
Graduation
74%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1265/28
Baruch College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
70%
Student body
9K
Hofstra University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$46K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
68%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1190/26
St. John's University ’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
59%
Student body
11K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/25
Pace University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
61%
Graduation
55%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1115/24
Queens College, City University of New York’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$62K
Acceptance
17%
Graduation
90%
Student body
3K
Median SAT/ACT
1385/31
Colgate University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$58K
Acceptance
60%
Graduation
71%
Student body
3K
Bard College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$62K
Acceptance
47%
Graduation
85%
Student body
2K
Median SAT/ACT
1305/30
Union College, New York’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
52%
Graduation
82%
Student body
8K
Fashion Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$53K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
69%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1320/30
Rochester Institute of Technology’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
93%
Graduation
47%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1185/25
Long Island University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Many of our 2022 undergraduate focused rankings look considerably different than 2021. That’s because we took a fundamentally different apporach. For 2021 we utilized our Concentrated Influence algorithm, designed to take away the size advantage larger schools have when we rank their faculty and alumni’s academic influence. Concentrated influence highlights smaller schools that are proportionally as successful as larger universities at cultivating influential alumni and faculty.