SUNY Empire State College Overview

SUNY Empire State College is a public institution situated in Saratoga Springs, New York. Saratoga Springs is a good match for students who enjoy the safety and convenience of the suburbs.

What Is SUNY Empire State College Known For?

• The highest award offered at SUNY Empire is the master's degree.
• For the 2017-2018 academic year, 20% of the faculty were full-time.

SUNY Empire State College Rankings

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

SUNY Empire has been awarded the following overall awards by our latest rankings.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#34	Most Popular Online Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#73	Most Popular Online Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#138	Best Associate’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#156	Most Popular Online Associate’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#165	Most Popular Graduate Certificate Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#258	Most Popular Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at SUNY Empire.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#4	Best Value Community Organization & Advocacy Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#4	Most Popular Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#5	Best Value Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#19	Best Value General Business/Commerce Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#32	Best General Business/Commerce Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#32	Most Popular Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#62	Best Business, Management & Marketing Associate’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#75	Best Value General Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#76	Best Value Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#122	Best Value Nursing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Awards From Around the Web

The following table lists some notable awards SUNY Empire has earned from around the web.

Rank	Ranking Name	Source
#6	Best General Business/Commerce Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#18	Best Public Administration & Social Service Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#18	Best Nursing Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#55	Best General Psychology Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#61	Best Psychology Colleges for Veterans	College Factual
#65	Best Business Associate’s Degree Schools	Business Degree Central

Where Is SUNY Empire State College?

Contact details for SUNY Empire are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	Two Union Ave, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866-4391
Phone:	518-587-2100
Website:	www.esc.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/SUNYEmpireStateCollege
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/@SUNYEmpire

SUNY Empire State College has an open admissions policy, so you don't have to worry about getting into the school if you have a high school diploma or its equivalent.

Can I Afford SUNY Empire State College?

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 Empire, approximately 39% of students took out student loans averaging $7,379 a year. That adds up to $29,516 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at SUNY Empire is 6.5%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you'll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans.

SUNY Empire State College Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 9,095 undergraduate students at SUNY Empire, with 3,267 being full-time and 5,828 being part-time.

There are also 1,345 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 3,267 full-time undergraduates at SUNY Empire, 29% are male and 71% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of SUNY Empire State College students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	95
Black or African American	641
Hispanic or Latino	429
White	1,753
International Students	12
Other Races/Ethnicities	337

Geographic Diversity

New York students aren't the only ones who study at SUNY Empire State College. At this time, 9 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Online Learning at SUNY Empire State College

There are 18 bachelor’s degree and 13 master’s degree programs available online at SUNY Empire. In 2017-2018, 6,796 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at SUNY Empire has changed over the last few years.

This school is the 3rd most popular in New York for online learning according to the online graduations recorded by the Department of Education for the academic year 2017-2018.

Online Growth Rankings of SUNY Empire

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at SUNY Empire State College was -3.8%. This is the #2,412 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at SUNY Empire regardless of major.

The following table shows the 1-year growth rate of SUNY Empire majors that offer at least one online course. This table only includes majors with positive growth.

Major	1-Year Growth Rate
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies	67%
Education	0%
Entrepreneurial Studies	57%
Ethnic Studies	50%
Finance & Financial Management	11%
General Education	9%
General Psychology	8%
Health Professions	21%
Human Resource Management	5%
Instructional Media Design	29%
Nursing	19%
Other Education	18%
Other Physical Science	1%
Other Social Sciences	14%
Physical Sciences	1%
Psychology	8%

The table below shows how the average growth rate over 4 years at SUNY Empire 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 Empire.

Major	Growth Rate Rank
English Literature (Other)	#3
Other Physical Science	#4
Other Social Sciences	#11
Community Organization & Advocacy	#12
Area Studies	#12
Public Policy	#16
Interdisciplinary Studies	#20
Ethnic Studies	#26
Fine & Studio Arts	#28
Physical Sciences	#30
Area, Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies	#33
Medical Illustration & Informatics	#34
Other Business, Management & Marketing	#40
International Business	#43
Other Education	#48
General Social Sciences	#55
History	#73
History	#73
Finance & Financial Management	#83
Management Information Systems	#86
Entrepreneurial Studies	#103
Visual & Performing Arts	#117
General Education	#118
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	#118
English Language & Literature	#122
Instructional Media Design	#126
Curriculum & Instruction	#142
Marketing	#148
Human Resource Management	#159
General Psychology	#166
General Business/Commerce	#203
Social Sciences	#220
Psychology	#225
Public Administration & Social Service	#229
Multi / Interdisciplinary Studies	#235
Teacher Education Grade Specific	#308
Nursing	#494

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 Empire State College Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Basic Certificate	Associate’s	Bachelor’s	Graduate Certificate	Master’s	TOTAL
General Business/Commerce	3	96	744	0	0	843
Community Organization & Advocacy	0	71	424	0	0	495
Nursing	0	0	193	0	52	245
Human Resource Management	0	177	17	24	11	229
General Psychology	0	22	198	0	0	220
Other Physical Science	0	52	147	0	0	199
General Education	0	26	102	0	0	128
Other Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies	0	76	32	0	0	108
English Literature (Other)	0	7	90	0	0	97
Business Administration & Management	2	0	0	27	65	94
Fine & Studio Arts	0	11	68	0	0	79
Interdisciplinary Studies	0	47	24	0	0	71
Public Policy	0	0	62	2	0	64
Teacher Education Grade Specific	0	0	0	0	45	45
General Social Sciences	0	8	35	0	0	43
Curriculum & Instruction	0	0	0	0	35	35
Other Social Sciences	0	0	0	17	18	35
History	0	4	20	5	0	29
Health & Medical Administrative Services	0	0	0	0	15	15
Other Business, Management & Marketing	0	0	0	13	0	13
Other Education	0	0	0	0	11	11
Finance & Financial Management	0	0	0	7	2	9
Entrepreneurial Studies	0	0	0	7	0	7
Instructional Media Design	0	0	0	7	0	7
Liberal Arts General Studies	0	0	0	0	7	7
Marketing	0	0	0	6	0	6
Ethnic Studies	0	0	0	4	0	4
Management Information Systems	0	0	0	3	0	3
Area Studies	0	0	0	2	0	2
Accounting	0	0	1	0	0	1
International Business	0	0	0	0	1	1
Allied Health Professions	0	0	1	0	0	1
Computer Information Systems	0	0	0	0	0	0
Special Education	0	0	0	0	0	0
Medical Illustration & Informatics	0	0	0	0	0	0
Human Services	0	0	0	0	0	0
Public Administration	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTAL	5	597	2,158	124	262	3,146

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 DanielPenfield under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.