page_title: Education in New York City
section_title: Higher education
hierarchical_section_title: Education in New York City / Higher education
caption_attribution_description: Keating Hall, Rose Hill, Fordham University.
context_page_description: Education in New York City is provided by a vast number of public and private institutions. New York City is home to some of the most important libraries, universities, and research centers in the world. In 2006, New York had the most post-graduate life sciences degrees awarded annually in the United States, 40,000 licensed physicians, and 127 Nobel laureates with roots in local institutions. The city receives the second-highest amount of annual funding from the National Institutes of Health among all U.S. cities. It also struggles with disparity in its public school system, with some of the best-performing public schools in the United States as well as some of the worst-performing. Under Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the city embarked on a major school reform effort.
  New York City has many nationally important independent universities and colleges, such as Barnard College, Columbia University, Cooper Union, Fordham University, Long Island University, Manhattan College, New York Institute of Technology, New York University, Pace University, Pratt Institute, St. John's University, The New School, Vaughn College of Aeronautics and Technology, and Yeshiva University.
context_section_description: There are about 594,000 university students in New York City attending around 110 universities and colleges. New York State is the nation's largest importer of college students; statistics show that among freshmen who leave their home states to attend college, more come to New York State than any other state, including California. Enrollment in New York State is led by New York City, which is home to more university students than any other city in the United States. As of 2006, students in the state had more post-graduate life sciences degrees awarded annually than any other state. There were 40,000 licensed physicians as well as 127 Nobel laureates with roots in local institutions. The city gets more annual funding from National Institutes of Health than all other U.S. cities except Boston. Additionally, the higher education sector is also a vital contributor to the city's economy, employing 110,000 people in 2007 and accounting for nearly 2.5 percent of overall employment in New York.
  Public higher education is provided by the many campuses of the City University of New York (CUNY) and the State University of New York (SUNY). CUNY is built around the City College of New York, whose own history dates back to the formation of the Free Academy in 1847. Much of CUNY's student body, which represent 197 countries, consists of new immigrants to New York City. CUNY has campuses in all of the five boroughs, with 11 four-year colleges, 7 two-year colleges, a law school, a graduate school, a medical school, an honors college, a public health school, professional studies school, and a journalism school. A third of college graduates in New York City are CUNY graduates, with the institution enrolling about half of all college students in New York City. The City University's alumni include Jonas Salk, Colin Powell, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel.
  Columbia University, an Ivy League university founded in 1754 and currently located in Morningside Heights, Manhattan, is the fifth oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Barnard College is an independent women's college, one of the original Seven Sisters, affiliated with Columbia. Through a reciprocal agreement, Barnard and Columbia students share classes, housing, and extracurricular activities, and Barnard graduates receive the degree of the university.
  New York University (NYU) is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, but it has campus buildings around the city and campuses and global "academic centers" worldwide. Founded in 1831, NYU is one of the largest private, nonprofit institutions of higher education in the United States.
  The New School, located mostly in Greenwich Village, is a private multidisciplinary university housing eight specialized colleges, including the internationally recognized art school, Parsons The New School for Design. Founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research, the university established itself as a modern free school where adult students could "seek an unbiased understanding of the existing order, its genesis, growth and present working."
  Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, located in Manhattan's Cooper Square, was founded in 1859 by Peter Cooper to provide education in engineering, architecture, and the fine arts. The Cooper Union was made tuition-free so that the school would be "open and free to all," and that all qualifying students could get an education "equal to the best technology schools established" at the time. independent of their race, religion, sex, wealth or social status. For 155 years until 2014, Cooper Union admitted students based on merit alone and provided each with a full-tuition scholarship.
  Three of the United States' leading Roman Catholic colleges are in New York City. The Jesuit-associated Fordham University, with campuses in Manhattan and the Bronx, was the first Catholic university in the Northeast, founded in 1841. St. John's University was founded by the Vincentian Fathers in 1870 and now has 
caption: Fordham University's Keating Hall in the Bronx
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