<p>I thought Cornell just got some funding from the state (for the Agricultural Sciences College) to subsidize it’s tuition to NY residents…</p>
<p>Only a few majors at Cornell qualify for in state tuition. After visiting a few NY state schools, I have come to the following conclusion - NY state schools were designed by people who know nothing about architecture and what a college campus should look like. SUNY schools are ugly and most are in the middle of nowhere - where winter starts in October and ends in April - leaving 6 weeks of decent weather. There is little school spirit and no name recognition outside of NY. No wonder many OOS public schools have a huge NY contigency.</p>
<p>KandKsmom -</p>
<p>I know. I never said there were ONLY two great ones. I just said there were two great ones - the two that are probably best known around the country. ;)</p>
<p>wheeler -</p>
<p>That is why I am surprised by the New York system. Not only do you have New York City (some of the richest people in the entire world), but you also have all of the areas in the Adirondacks (Lake George, etc). and Saratoga. But I suppose the answer to this is that these people don’t have a tradition of public school (like UVa) but they do have a tradition of sending their children to private school.</p>
<p>Hillary: Rich people in NYC live in Manhattan only. Of course there is also Westchester, etc., but think of all the immigrants and people that come to the city from nothing. And if everyone in NYC were so rich, why would rent control be so pervasive?</p>
<p>First of all, the statement “rich people in NYC live in Manhattan only” is completely false. Park Slope, Brooklyn? Riverdale, Bronx? Most live in Manhattan, but there are filthy rich pepole in both Brooklyn and the Bronx.</p>
<p>Secondly, since when is rent control pervasive? I do not think this is true at all.</p>
<p>Okay, well you are right about the first comment. But rent control is very common in the city, where one million apartments are rent controlled. This is a total tangent, sorry.</p>
<p>I think the biggest problem in New York is the lack of a unified flagship with solid programs across the board. Binghamton is the closest, but Stony Brook has killer sciences… and Buffalo has the best engineering. So, if I want to major in either applied math or engineering of some kind, where should I go? If NY had pushed everything toward one school, it could be one of the finest in the nation.</p>
<p>Of course, every argument has a flip side. While NY may not have an option on the level of UVa or Michigan, it could very well be argued that having a number of decent schools benefits more of the populace than one really good one.</p>
<p>Just one more thing: I don’t think it’s fair to assume that one is neccessarily bad-off financially if one occupies a rent-controlled apartment. After all, both Charlie Rangel and Gov. Patterson have rent-controlled apartments!</p>
<p>So what about Florida? It doesn’t have the “tradition of sending their kids to private schools” to the degree that the NE does. I guess it has a lot of “new” “immigrants” though…</p>
<p>Hillary2012 “…the two that are probably best known around the country.”</p>
<p>Not during college football season!! 
Go Hokies!</p>
<p>(just kidding Hillary2012!)</p>
<p>On a more serious note, just today the State Council of Education granted the Virginia Tech Carillon Medical School approval to operate as a post secondary institution and awarded them degree granting authority. Here’s the link:</p>
<p>[Va</a>. Tech med school clears another hurdle | newsleader.com | The News Leader](<a href=“http://www.newsleader.com/article/20090720/NEWS01/90720001/1002/news01/Va.+Tech+med+school+clears+another+hurdle]Va”>http://www.newsleader.com/article/20090720/NEWS01/90720001/1002/news01/Va.+Tech+med+school+clears+another+hurdle)</p>
<p>With VCU/MCV, UVA, and now VT all with medical schools, the state of Virginia will have three state schools involved in the education of future medical professionals. Pretty good stuff.</p>
<p>KandKsmom,</p>
<p>That is so true!</p>
<p>Heretohelp,</p>
<p>For what it’s worth, I think that UF is a great school.</p>
<p>North Carolina and Virginia colleges benefit(ed) from tobacco money. Nothing like an addictive drug with its attendant profits to fuel philanthropy!</p>
<p>UVA and W&M have engineered their position by not growing student bodies as rapidly as the state population has grown and keeping a high percentage of out of state students (35%). They have been able to become more selective, which has burnished their reputation and increased their rankings, which they are very focused on. They grew their endowments aggressively, in large part to extricate themselves from state control. Now VT is following this model as well. The demographics and admission philosophy has shifted many fine Virginia students who just a couple of years ago would have been admitted to UVA and W&M to the 2nd tier schools. These schools now have great students but fewer resources and are more dependent on falling state resources.</p>
<p>I know UVA, Virginia Tech and W&M have been mentioned but don’t forget George Mason, Mary Washington or James Madison either, those schools could compete with a northeast flagship university.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>To be honest, because of the number and range of students SUNY and CUNY serve and serve well, I think that the SUNY as a system is one of the best in the nation. I just don’t think we have any single SUNY that can give a little prestige to our system. We really should be working toward that, but funding is already a major issue.</p>
<p>
The horror! At least people smoking tobacco know what they’re getting into. Brown got some of its money and construction help from the slave trade (and admirably has the guts to admit it).</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/23/opinion/23mon3.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/23/opinion/23mon3.html</a></p>
<p>I think we should judge colleges for what they are, not what they were. ;)</p>
<p>With its own medical school and a football team that wins BCS bowl games, VA Tech is on its way to becomming a top 30 university that will soon rival UVA.</p>
<p>Wow. Imagine a university that has a med school and wins a BCS football game not being in the top 30 in the U.S. Seems a logical conclusion that it’s only a matter of a year or two before VATech will be a top school, not!</p>