On April 1st, Binghamton University hinted at a new mascot. Turns out, it was just an April Fools joke from a campus that obviously has a sense of humor.

While discussing the joke with a couple of my co-workers, we brought up the subject of just how large the State Univerity of New York school system is. Actually, it's much bigger than any one of us thought.

According to the website SUNY EDU website, there are 64 institutions that are a part of the SUNY system, the largest of its kind in the United States. That includes 27 four-year school systems including local colleges - Binghamton University and SUNY Cortland.

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The four-year institutions are actually broken down into two categories according to the SUNY EDU website -14 University Centers and 13 University Colleges. Binghamton University is a University Center, which specializes in undergraduate teaching, research, and advanced graduate and professional studies. The SUNY EDU website states that University Colleges specialize in undergraduate instruction and provide bachelor's and master's degrees in liberal arts and sciences and professional disciplines.

In addition, there are 30 community colleges in the SUNY system including locally - SUNY Broome, Tompkins-Cortland (TC3), and SUNY Corning (CCC.)  And there are 7 technical colleges including Delhi State University.

But, did you know that in addition to these 64 SUNY institutions, there are upper-division SUNY colleges according to the website Prep Scholar? They include Upstate Medical University and Downstate Medical Center.

And Prep Scholar lists five statutory colleges which are mostly run by private colleges but receive funding from New York State. Four are at Cornell University in Ithaca, and the fifth is at Alfred University in Western New York.

New York State certainly boasts many great college choices for both New York and out-of-state residents. And there's much more interesting information about the SUNY system through the websites SUNY EDU and Prep Scholar, including a detailed look at each college.

via SUNY EDU, Prep Scholar

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