SUNY Cortland Overview
Located in Cortland, New York, SUNY Cortland is a public institution. The charming, small-town atmosphere of Cortland draws many to the area.
What Is SUNY Cortland Known For?
- The 4% student loan default rate at SUNY Cortland is better than the national rate of 10.1%. That's a good sign that you may be able to pay off student loans easier than your peers at other schools can.
- The highest award offered at SUNY Cortland is the post-master's certificate.
- For the 2019-2020 academic year, 59% of the faculty were full-time.
- After graduation, SUNY Cortland bachelor's degree recipients go on to jobs where they make $53,711 a year. That's about 32% more than their peers at other schools.
- It takes the average SUNY Cortland student 4.3 years to graduate. This is pretty good when compared to the national rate of 4.4 years.
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SUNY Cortland Rankings
Out of the 128 colleges in New York, SUNY Cortland is ranked at #26.
Our rankings are based on an outcomes-based approach rather than subjective ones used by other media outlets. As such, we utilize data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard, among other sources. Visit our rankings and methodology section to learn more.
Program Level Awards
These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at SUNY Cortland.
Awards From Around the Web
The following table lists some notable awards SUNY Cortland has earned from around the web.
Rank | Ranking Name | Source |
---|---|---|
#1 | Best Physical Fitness Technician Schools | College Factual |
#2 | Best Sports Studies Schools | College Factual |
#44 | Best Health & Physical Education Schools | College Factual |
#55 | Best Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies Schools | College Factual |
#63 | Best Teacher Education Subject Specific Schools | College Factual |
#116 | Best Education Schools | College Factual |
Where Is SUNY Cortland?

Contact details for SUNY Cortland are given below.
Contact Details | |
---|---|
Address: | Miller Building, Cortland, NY 13045-0900 |
Phone: | 607-753-2011 |
Website: | www2.cortland.edu |
How Do I Get Into SUNY Cortland?
You can apply to SUNY Cortland online at: www2.cortland.edu/admissions/undergraduate/application-process.dot
Admission Requirements for SUNY Cortland
Submission | Required? |
---|---|
High School GPA | considered but not required |
High School Rank | considered but not required |
High School Transcript | required |
College Prep Program | recommended |
Recommendations | required |
SAT or ACT Scores | considered but not required |
TOEFL | considered but not required |
How Hard Is It To Get Into SUNY Cortland?
Approximately 38% of accepted students are men and 62% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 47%, and the acceptance rate for women is 56%.
Average Test Scores
About 68% of students accepted to SUNY Cortland submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 550 and 610. Math scores were between 550 and 610.
Can I Afford SUNY Cortland?
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.
Student Loan Debt
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At SUNY Cortland, approximately 67% of students took out student loans averaging $7,519 a year. That adds up to $30,076 over four years for those students.
The student loan default rate at SUNY Cortland is 3.5%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.
SUNY Cortland Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are also 576 graduate students at the school.
Gender Diversity
Of the 6,093 full-time undergraduates at SUNY Cortland, 43% are male and 57% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity
The racial-ethnic breakdown of SUNY Cortland students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity | Number of Grads |
---|---|
Asian | 68 |
Black or African American | 358 |
Hispanic or Latino | 840 |
White | 4,436 |
International Students | 21 |
Other Races/Ethnicities | 370 |
Geographic Diversity
New York students aren't the only ones who study at SUNY Cortland. At this time, 18 states are represented by the student population at the school.
Online Learning at SUNY Cortland
The following chart shows how the online learning population at SUNY Cortland has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 40th most popular in New York for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2019-2020.
Online Affordability Rankings of SUNY Cortland
During the most recent year for which we have data, the full-time undergraduate tuition at SUNY Cortland was $8,677 for in-state students. Out-of-state students paid $18,587. The following table shows how SUNY Cortland is ranked for affordability for both in-state and out-of-state students among colleges and universities that are not mostly online.
Major | Tuition for In-State Students | Tuition for Out-of-State Students |
---|---|---|
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies | #1 | #1 |
Health & Physical Education | #55 | #58 |
Online Growth Rankings of SUNY Cortland
The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at SUNY Cortland was 158.6%. This is the #322 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at SUNY Cortland regardless of major.
The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of SUNY Cortland majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.
Major | 1-Year Growth Rate |
---|---|
Education | 20% |
Educational Administration | 4% |
History | 32% |
History | 32% |
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies | 9% |
Teacher Education Subject Specific | 25% |
The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at SUNY Cortland ranks compared to all other partially online schools that offer a specific major. Note that the majors may or may not be offered online at SUNY Cortland.
Major | Growth Rate Rank | |
---|---|---|
Parks, Recreation & Leisure Studies | #1 | |
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies | #22 | |
Health & Physical Education | #22 | |
Teacher Education Subject Specific | #46 | |
Education | #133 |
When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.
SUNY Cortland Undergraduate Concentrations
The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.
References
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
- College Factual
- National Center for Education Statistics
- Image Credit: By Publicganda under License
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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