Most popular SUNY colleges for Long Island students
Nassau Community College in Garden City. Credit: Nassau Community College
More than 78,000 students from Long Island were enrolled in SUNY schools across New York State last year, according to a Newsday analysis.
Newsday examined data provided by SUNY Fast Facts, which provides official statistical data on the SUNY system, from the fall of 2025, the most recent year for which data was available.
The SUNY colleges with the most Long Island students:
Suffolk County Community College
Suffolk is the largest community college within the SUNY system and it also had the most Long Island students enrolled with 20,490 (nearly 100%) of its total enrollment coming from Nassau or Suffolk counties. Its most popular areas of study included humanities, health and related fields, business, management and public administration.
Nassau Community College
Nassau Community College had 12,611 students, or 92% of its total enrollment, coming from Long Island. Students here also favored programs in the humanities, health and business fields.
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook University is one of the flagship institutions within the SUNY network, drawing among the largest volume of students for its health sciences, medicine and computer sciences program. It had 12,106 students, or 56% of its total enrollment, coming from Long Island.
Elsewhere in NYS, these are the SUNY schools that draw the most Long Islanders by volume:
Binghamton University
Binghamton's acceptance rate is the lowest in the SUNY system and its prestige continues to grow nationally — but the university still had about 25%, or 3,721, of its student body hailing from Long Island.
The University at Buffalo
SUNY's other flagship, The University at Buffalo, had the largest overall enrollment that included 10% or 2,603, of its students coming from Long Island. Architecture and engineering studies are the most popular fields, but the university also draws for its programs in social and behavioral sciences, law, business, health and related fields.
Empire State University
Empire State is NYS's only public online university and it had 2,199, or 21% of its total enrollment, hailing from Long Island. Overwhelmingly, students choose to study business, management and public administration, but online programs span education, liberal arts, science and technology.
The number of Long Island students enrolled doesn't always tell the full picture of local popularity. Some SUNY colleges located off Long Island have about a third or more of its student bodies hailing from the region. Among those with the highest percentage of local students:
SUNY Maritime College
The Bronx-based Maritime College counted 47% of its total enrollment, or 543 students, coming from Long Island. Marine-based programs are the specialty here, with a range of mechanical engineering, electrical and naval architecture studies.
SUNY Cortland
About 33% of SUNY Cortland's total enrollment, or 2,192 students, came from Long Island. Education dominates as the most popular major, followed by health-related fields.
SUNY Oneonta
The upstate college in Oneonta had 29% of its total enrollment, or 1,559 students, coming from Long Island. Education is also a popular program here, as well as social and behavior sciences.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
