A commitment to providing first-rate academic opportunities for students of all backgrounds: That has been The City University of New York’s mission since its founding in 1847. Today, CUNY is a higher education destination, a magnet for talented students including three Rhodes Scholars selected since 2005. Enrollment is at record levels, and high-achieving students increasingly choose CUNY colleges, recognizing their great value and paths to professional success. »

From certificate courses to the Ph.D., CUNY provides post-secondary learning at every level, in every field of interest: 1,750 programs, more than 230 majors leading to associate and baccalaureate degrees, and more than 160 graduate-degree majors. CUNY’s 6,700 full-time teaching faculty members include prominent experts in virtually every field of human endeavor. Guggenheim Fellows, Pulitzer Prize winners and two U.S. Poet Laureates have taught at CUNY, and more than 80 percent of full-time professors hold the highest degrees in their fields. Expanding the ranks of full-time faculty is one of CUNY’s highest priorities.

With more than 100 nationally recognized research centers, CUNY is one of the nation’s premier research institutions, promoting discovery in the sciences and engineering as well as in the arts, education and humanities. The state-of-the-art, 200,000-square-foot Advanced Science Research Center (ASRC), to open in 2012 at The City College, will be the University’s hub of groundbreaking research in photonics, nanotechnology, water and environmental sensing, structural biology and neuroscience, important work that is already underway at CUNY. CUNY’s 30 libraries contain 7.6 million volumes, 30,000 periodicals, and a wealth of microfilms, music scores, records, slides, tapes, videos and other materials. Libraries also license books and journals in electronic format; many of these are available through the Internet. All CUNY students can use any CUNY library.

CUNY students are remarkably diverse, tracing their ancestries to 205 countries. African-American, white and Hispanic undergraduates each comprise more than a quarter of the student body, and Asians more than 15 percent. Forty-seven percent of undergraduates have a native language other than English, 41 percent work more than 20 hours a week, 63 percent attend school full time, and 15 percent support children. Nearly 60 percent are female and 29 percent are 25 or older. Of first-time freshmen, 37 percent are born outside the U.S. mainland and nearly 70 percent attended New York City public high schools.

From the traditional to the architecturally innovative, 300 buildings with almost 26 million square feet of space comprise CUNY’s physical plant, with campuses ranging from The City College’s neo-Gothic buildings on St. Nicholas Heights to Baruch College’s Newman Vertical Campus in midtown Manhattan, to the bucolic College of Staten Island. CUNY buildings house state-of-the-art computer centers, science and language laboratories, gymnasiums, theaters, greenhouses and astronomy observatories.

The William E. Macaulay Honors College at CUNY provides an enhanced undergraduate education to academically gifted students, drawing on the University’s resources and New York’s cultural, scientific, government and business communities to provide a broad, challenging liberal arts education. City College alumnus William E. Macaulay’s $30 million gift in 2006 established a home and endowment for the college. Private funding helps provide full tuition, scholarships, laptops and academic expense accounts.

CUNY graduates include 12 Nobel Laureates, among the highest number from any public university in the country. Our outstanding alumni have included a U.S. Secretary of State, a Supreme Court Justice, mayors, members of Congress, state legislators, scientists, an astronaut, actors, singers, composers, writers and inventors. More top U.S. corporate executives earned their bachelor’s degrees at The City University of New York than at any other university in the country, according to a national survey conducted by Standard & Poor’s. In 2009, four of New York City’s five borough presidents were CUNY alumni.

CUNY’s many programs to strengthen academic skills and provide advanced placement courses include the College Now enrichment program for high school students; remedial classes in community colleges, and SEEK and College Discovery for economically and educationally disadvantaged students. CUNY offers 86 degree-credit English as a Second Language classes, and a CUNY Language Immersion Program for to help entering freshmen improve their English.

New York City Council Peter F. Vallone Academic Scholarships and individual scholarships offered by CUNY colleges complement federal and state grants and loans. Graduates of New York City high schools with a B or better average who are accepted to CUNY, may be eligible for Vallone Scholarships. Of full-time undergraduate CUNY degree students, 70 percent receive financial aid, from federal Pell grants and state TAP awards, to federal work-study. Annually, students receive more than $600 million from a variety of sources to help meet the cost of attending CUNY.

Visit CUNY’s one-stop admissions welcome center, located on the first floor of the W.R. Grace building at 41 W. 42nd St., where the Office of Admission Services is located on the 15th floor. Call 1-800-CUNY-YES or visit the Admissions Website for more information.