Our Mission 

Founded in 1971 as the innovative campus of the State University of New York, Empire State University empowers learners from diverse backgrounds to achieve their educational goals. We have decades of experience providing educational access through online teaching and learning, individualized instruction, mentoring, and prior learning assessment. We build on our students’ experiences to promote their growth and drive upward mobility and economic development in New York state and beyond.

Empire State University is a national leader for high-quality, flexible, and affordable education. We stand alone among public institutions nationwide in our ability to provide impactful academic experiences to learners of all ages.

Our values are a guiding force for everything we do in service to our students, their families, and their communities, and they infuse all of our strategic priorities, decisions, and actions.

• Access
• Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
• Flexibility
• Innovation

The university enrolls more than 16,000 students annually and has more than 97,000 alumni across New York, the nation, and the world.