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Empire State University Comprehensive Profile

117 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
7% Student Loan Default Rate

Get the facts about Empire State University. Learn how it ranks, what majors it offers, how diverse it is, and much more.

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* Rankings

How Does Empire State University Stack Up?

#1,193 Best Colleges in Nation
#109 Best Colleges in NY
Empire State University ranking badge

2026 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Empire State University was awarded 117 badges in the 2026 rankings.

Overall Ranking

According to College Factual’s 2026 analysis, SUNY Empire is ranked #1,193 out of 3,449 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.

SUNY Empire also holds the #109 spot on the Best Colleges in New York ranking.

See all of the rankings for Empire State University.

What Are the Admission Requirements for Empire State University?

Admission Selectivity

Learn more about Empire State University admissions.

Instructors at Empire State University

17 to 1 Student to Faculty
25% Full Time Teachers

Class Sizes

With a student to faculty ratio of 17 to 1, Empire State University is about average in this regard as the nationwide rate is 15 to 1. While this does not translate directly to class size, it’s a good indicator of how much time professors will have to spend with their students on a one-on-one basis.

Full-Time Faculty Share

Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.

The full-time faculty percentage at Empire State University is 25%. This is lower than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  25 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Empire State University

46% Freshmen Retention
29% On-Time Graduation Rate

Freshman Success

The freshmen retention rate of 46% tells us that most first-year, full-time students don’t stick around for a second year at Empire State University. Students may have a variety of reasons for this, such as only intending to attend a school for one year while they brush up on certain subjects.

Freshmen Retention Rate  46 out of 100
0
100

Academic Completion

The on-time graduation rate is the percent of first-time, full-time students who get their bachelor’s degree within four years. At SUNY Empire this rate is 29%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 33.3%.

On-Time Graduation Rate  29 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Empire State University.

Undergraduate Diversity at Empire State University

7,046 Undergraduate Students
38.7% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
66.9% Percent Women

In the current academic year, there are 7,046 undergraduates at SUNY Empire.

Get more detailed information on the diversity at Empire State University.

How Much Does Empire State University Cost?

$16,772 Net Price
34% Take Out Loans
$35,100 Total Student Loans

The average net price of SUNY Empire is $16,772. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.### Net Price by Income Group for SUNY Empire

$0-30 K $30K-48K $48-75 $75-110K $110K +
$9,135 $10,581 $11,882 $16,857 $18,178

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of SUNY Empire, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

It’s not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At SUNY Empire, approximately 34% of students took out student loans averaging $8,775 a year. That adds up to $35,100 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 7.2%. Although this is lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, you’ll still want to keep this in mind when taking out student loans. Get more details about paying for Empire State University.

Post-Graduation Earnings for Empire State University

$54,080 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost

Although some majors pay more than others, students who graduate from Empire State University with a bachelor’s degree go on to jobs where they make an average salary of $54,080 in their early years. This is good news for future Empire State University graduates since it is 10% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.

See which majors at Empire State University make the most money.

Location of Empire State University

New York State
7,046 Undergraduate Students
Suburb Campus Setting

Empire State University is a public institution found in Saratoga Springs, New York. Saratoga Springs is considered a suburb and offers tranquility and safety near the excitement of a city center. Get more details about the location of Empire State University.

Location of Empire State University

Contact information for Empire State University can be found below.

Contact Details
Address: Two Union Ave, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866-4391
Phone: 5185872100
Website: www.esc.edu
Facebook: www.facebook.com/SUNYEmpireStateCollege
Twitter: twitter.com/@SUNYEmpire

Empire State University Areas of Study

16 Majors With Completions
5,674 Undergraduate Degrees

In the most recent reporting year, students from 16 majors graduated from Empire State University. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.

Most Popular Majors Completions Average Salary of Graduates
Multi-Disciplinary Studies 2,837 NA
Business & Commerce 358 $46,477
Community Organization & Advocacy 329 $38,496
Business Administration & Management 265 $71,395
General Psychology 261 $36,299
Human Resource Management 232 NA
General Education 140 $33,185
Nursing 133 $83,156
Other Physical Science 130 NA
Liberal Arts General Studies 103 $42,742

Learn more about the majors offered at Empire State University along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Distance Learning at SUNY Empire

109% Take At Least One Class Online
107% Take All Classes Online

Online courses are a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

7,672 students took at least one online class at Empire State University.

Learn more about online learning at Empire State University.

References and Footnotes

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

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