School of Undergraduate Studies

Choose a degree or design your own.

At SUNY Empire, you have choices when it comes to earning your online degree. Choose from one of our structured degree programs, and get started right away. Or customize your degree to meet your goals, interests, and experience by selecting from courses across our undergraduate programs or creating your own.

Mentoring that Makes Sense

We approach student advisement differently. We call it mentoring, and it’s a two-way relationship built on trust and communication. There is give and take, teaching and learning, challenge and support. You’re not a box to check off of our to-do list; you’re a valuable and ongoing part of a team—a team driven to see you achieve throughout your online degree program and beyond.

The more you work with your mentor, the more he or she can help craft a degree program that’s uniquely you, tailor a schedule that works with your busy life, and support you along your academic journey.

Undergraduate Schools

Enhance your degree with an advanced certificate.

Focus your undergraduate studies and earn an additional credential with an online certificate in:

  • Business and Environmental Sustainability
  • Healthcare Management
  • Manufacturing Management

Transfer Credit that Saves Time and Money

We’re known for our generous transfer credit policy. If you’ve earned college credits from an accredited institution, you may be able to:

Transfer up to

40 Credits

for your associate degree

Transfer up to

93 Credits

for your bachelor's degree

(including up to 79 introductory credits)

In addition, SUNY Empire State College has special partnerships with community colleges across New York state and beyond to provide a seamless transfer into our bachelor’s degree programs. If you’ve earned your associate degree at a participating college, you can transfer your entire associate degree, up to 79 credits. View our list of partner colleges.

Earn credit for what you already know.

Benefit from the college-level learning you already have and turn it into credit to put toward your degree. SUNY Empire’s individualized Prior Learning Assessment (iPLA) helps you do just that. We’ll work with you to evaluate knowledge you’ve gained outside a traditional classroom—such as military experience, professional licensures, and standardized exams—and determine whether it meets the criteria for college credit, reducing your time to degree.

  • More than half of students who complete an associate or a bachelor’s degree at SUNY Empire receive PLA credits.
  • On average, students who receive PLA credits and complete an associate degree cut their time to degree by 2-3 terms and save approximately $7,000.
  • On average, students who receive PLA credits and complete a bachelor’s degree cut their time to degree by 3-4 terms and save approximately $10,000.

Course Offerings

Search our course catalog to learn more about individual online courses, independent study and college policies.

SUNY Empire State College is accredited by the Middle States Commission of Higher Education (MSCHE).