Highest-achieving students in New York City will receive automatic admission to select SUNY schools

STATEN ISLAND, NY – New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced the launch of the SUNY Top 10% Promise program, which will provide high-achieving high school seniors in New York City with automatic admission to select SUNY colleges and universities.

First, Hochul announced this plan as part of the state’s 2024 initiatives aimed at helping more New York City students gain access to SUNY schools.

“Access to higher education has the potential to transform the lives of New Yorkers and the trajectory of students’ lives,” Hochul said. “Offering New York City students who graduate in the top 10% of their class direct admission to SUNY campuses will help reduce barriers to access to higher education while ensuring our students have the opportunity to continue their education and pursue their dreams here in New York State “.

The program is part of the state’s efforts to reduce barriers to access to higher education, as research shows that the number of first-year students pursuing higher education has dropped for the first time in years. Reports say the decline has been particularly steep for students from low-income families, which may be due to issues with federal financial aid from the FAFSA last year.

Top 10% promisesme will go into effect for New York high school seniors and select additional districts in the state seeking admission in fall 2025.

The nine initial campuses participating in the program are: University at Albany; University at Buffalo; SUNY College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry; SUNY Geneseo; SUNY New Paltz; SUNY Oneonta; SUNY Polytechnic Institute; Buy College and Stony Brook University.

Students from all New York State school districts will be eligible to participate in the program once the SUNY Top 10% Promise is fully realized.

In the first year, 68 school districts (and individual charter schools) from across the state were invited to participate to serve rural, urban, and suburban communities that faced high levels of disadvantage or enroll a significant portion of students from low-income backgrounds. The governor’s statement said participating high schools are representative of the diversity of New York State.

According to the governor, the plan is to make college more affordable and increase acceptance rates among New Yorkers.

Several states, including Texas and California, also offer direct admission to high-scoring students and have said such policies increase equity in their university systems, according to SUNY’s website.

In California, for example, where students must also complete a college preparatory program to be eligible for the UC system, admissions numbers guarantee more admissions to selective universities for underrepresented students, higher graduation rates, and higher post-graduation earnings.

“There is a place for every New Yorker at SUNY, and the SUNY Top 10% promise will make it even easier for our high-achieving high school students – especially those from low-income backgrounds – to discover the extraordinary value and value of SUNY academic excellence,” said SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. “Thank you to Governor Hochul for her leadership, this new direct admissions program will advance educational equity and open the doors to higher education even wider.”

SUNY is the largest comprehensive higher education system in the United States, and more than 95% of all New York City residents live within 30 miles of any of the system’s 64 colleges and universities.