About Empire State University

SUNY's Leading Online Institution

Founded in 1971 as the innovative campus of the State University of New York, Empire State University empowers learners from diverse backgrounds to achieve their educational goals. We have decades of experience providing educational access through online teaching and learning, individualized instruction, mentoring, and prior learning assessment. We are SUNY’s leading online institution and New York state’s only public online institution.

SUNY Empire serves 16,000 students across New York state, the region, and the world. The institution specializes in high-quality, flexible, affordable education for working adults, including parents, veterans, and military-affiliates. Our 95,000 alumni are teachers, nurses, entrepreneurs, and leaders in their communities and their fields.

Student success drives everything we do. We meet our students where they are and support them on their journeys in a wide range of programs that meet workforce needs. We currently offer 123 fully online undergraduate, graduate, and certificate programs, including a doctoral program in educational leadership and change.

In addition, our online student and academic supports are as comprehensive as — and often more comprehensive than — those at a traditional campus. Students can access our holistic online student supports anywhere in the world. They include 24/7 online tutoring, interactive learning tools, online student engagement programs, career programming, basic-needs outreach, and free and confidential mental health counseling for all students.

We build on our students’ strengths and experiences to drive social mobility in New York and beyond. Follow us on social media @SUNYEmpire.

Empire State University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.