Public Ivy
The suburb of Vestal is home to the main campus of Binghamton University. The university, one of four university centers in the SUNY system, has approximately 15,000 students. Binghamton University is a selective top-ranking public university, and is considered to be a Public Ivy. It also has a large research presence, including a New York State Center of Excellence for small-scale systems integration. While the campus is in Vestal, many students who live off-campus find housing in the West Side. There has also been a recent push for student housing downtown to help revitalize the business district. In addition to its downtown campus, the university operates the Southern Tier High Technology Incubator in the city, and it is restoring the New York State Inebriate Asylum on the East Side for future use.