Starting from the fall semester of 2025, the State University of New York (SUNY) system’s nine campuses will proactively admit the top 10% of students from the public school classes of 68 school districts in New York State.
Governor Kathy Hochul of New York State first proposed the “Top 10% Promise” plan in this year’s State of the State address, pledging that if a public high school student’s academic performance GPA ranks in the top 10% of their class, they will have the opportunity to attend college.
However, not all universities or colleges within the SUNY system are participating in the program, and the admissions target is not limited to public high school students in the entire state of New York.
On Thursday, October 24th, Hochul confirmed that the following nine well-known state universities and colleges are the first to respond to the admission plan:
University at Albany, University at Buffalo, SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY New Paltz, SUNY Oneonta, SUNY Polytechnic Institute, Purchase College, and Stony Brook University.
Although New York State has nearly 800 school districts, in the first year of implementing the program, only 68 school districts have participated, mainly from remote and low-income areas, and the target students are high school graduates entering the fall semester of 2025.
Governor Hochul stated that, “Providing the opportunity for high school graduates in the top 10% of their class to directly enter the State University of New York will help reduce barriers to higher education for students, allowing them to continue their education in New York and pursue their dreams.”
According to local radio station WIBX, these school districts include Central Valley School District in Mohawk County, Syracuse City School District, and Utica City School Districts.
Although the state government has not disclosed the list of the 68 school districts, ABC reports indicate that senior officials within the SUNY system hope to eventually involve the other 700 school districts in the admission plan.