<p>Well i've been reading about the selectivity of many SUNY schools going up and a number of them gaining better reputations over the last couple years.</p>
<p>With a lot of people facing tougher finance issues today, it would make sense that cheaper state schools would be the better value and thus attract better students.</p>
<p>However i'm wondering whether SUNY schools are likely to stay on this sort of up-curve as the years pass, or will the selectivity and recognition go back down once the economy improves or simply as time goes by.</p>
<p>Or is it likely they could get even better and a SUNY degree could compare with some of the top state schools throughout the U.S. years from now.</p>
<p>There's probably no solid answer or certainty but i'm curious to know what others opinions are on SUNY schools standing among other colleges in this country.</p>
<p>There’s no way to tell when exactly the economy will “shift”, so I think we’ll see a gradual change, but maybe by the time this occurs, more people will recognize the importance, quality and cost effective benefits of a public education. So that the SUNY schools will only be getting better and better due to the increased selectivity… I hope that any of that makes sense.</p>
<p>I think certain SUNY’s were becoming more selective and competitive even before the economic downshift. Two that I think had especially large increases in applicants in past recent years are Binghamton and New Paltz. Binghamton has been getting recognition academically and has become more desirable for that reason and New Paltz has become really hot after being listed in Newsweek as the Hottest Small State School. That along with it’s great location, sense of community, fun college town and artsy reputation has catapulted the applicant pool and increased the freshman class by a considerable amount.</p>
<p>i think in the past too many people just considered the SUNY’s as “safeties” (financial as well as admissions) and maybe automatically applied to a couple without really thinking about what they had to offer. i think the economy and the resulting increased selectivity has caused people to take at least some of the SUNY’s more seriously.</p>
<p>i don’t think this is likely to drastically change in the near future for three reasons: 1) even if the economy gets better, i still think the recent trouble taught people to be more financially cautious and it could be quite a while before the price value of a SUNY becomes significantly less important, (2) people may have started looking because of price, but now people are seeing academic value as well – and even those who worry about “prestige” can now look at the SUNY’s without apologizing, and (3) the SUNY’s are starting to get attention out side of NYS as a result of their great value (Binghamton was named best value for out of staters by Kipplinger) and that broader reputation will help the SUNY’s going forward.</p>
<p>SUNY will NEVER gain a strong academic reputation so long as Albany keeps the restraints on allowing schools to market themselves. It is ashamed too, as there are 350,000 students in a system no one (outside of academia) knows about outside of the states contiguous to NY. Shame on you Albany!</p>