ALBANY — The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Marcy, and SUNY Oneonta are among the first group of schools participating in the SUNY Top 10% Promise program. It’s meant to help the “highest-achieving” New York high-school seniors gain admission and enroll at select SUNY campuses, the office […]
ALBANY — The SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, SUNY Polytechnic Institute in Marcy, and SUNY Oneonta are among the first group of schools participating in the SUNY Top 10% Promise program. It’s meant to help the “highest-achieving” New York high-school seniors gain admission and enroll at select SUNY campuses, the office of Gov. Kathy Hochul said in the Oct. 24 announcement. The governor first announced this plan as a part of her 2024 State of the State address. The additional six campuses include the University at Albany; University at Buffalo; SUNY Geneseo; SUNY New Paltz; Purchase College; and Stony Brook University. The Top 10% Promise is a direct-admissions program that automatically grants acceptance to graduating high school students whose GPAs (grade-point averages) are in the top 10 percent of their class. They also must meet specific academic-readiness criteria to at least one “selective, world-class SUNY campus,” per Hochul’s office. The program will take effect for select high-school seniors preparing to enroll for the Fall 2025 semester. Students in all New York State school districts will be eligible to participate when the SUNY Top 10% Promise is fully in place. In the first year, 68 school districts (and individual charter schools) from across the state were invited to participate based on serving rural, urban, and suburban communities with high levels of adversity or enrolling a significant share of students from low-income backgrounds. “There is a place at SUNY for every New Yorker, and The SUNY Top 10% Promise will make it even easier for our highest-achieving high school students — particularly those from low-income backgrounds — to discover SUNY’s extraordinary value and academic excellence,” SUNY Chancellor John King, Jr. contended in the state’s announcement.