Colleges in New York: acceptance rates and cost

The lowest admit rate for fall 2023 belongs to Columbia University, at 4.2%.

In the trend data, Lehman College opened up the most, raising its admit rate by 32.1 points from 23.3% in fall 2013 to 55.4% in fall 2023.

Turning to tuition, the smallest out-of-state bill is at City Tech, $15,282 in tuition and fees for 2025-26; residents of New York pay $7,332.

After grants, a family earning $0 to $30,000 paid an average of $1,467 at City Tech in 2024-25, the lowest on this page, so the same college leads on both prices.

On demand alone, the largest applicant pool is at NYU, with 113,578 applications for fall 2023, up 148% from fall 2013.

The median fall 2023 admit rate for 137 bachelor's colleges in New York is 75.0%, and the median out-of-state tuition at the state's 37 public bachelor's colleges is $18,678 for 2025-26.

New York colleges on AdmitFacts

College	Admit rate, fall 2023	In-state tuition, 2025-26	Out-of-state, 2025-26	Graduation, 2019 entrants	Net price $0-30k, 2024-25
NYU	9.4%	$65,622 same for all		88%	$16,349
Cornell	8.2%	$72,270 same for all		95%	$6,371
Fordham	56.3%	$67,897 same for all		81%	$32,069
Columbia University	4.2%	$74,180 same for all		95%	$2,275
Syracuse	41.7%	$68,429 same for all		81%	$21,872
Pace University	77.1%	$54,875 same for all		56%	$27,012
Hofstra	70.6%	$59,960 same for all		66%	$23,816
Colgate	12.0%	$73,646 same for all		89%	$8,610
Stony Brook	49.0%	$10,931	$34,911	77%	$13,938
RIT	71.4%	$61,804 same for all		70%	$24,161
Binghamton	37.7%	$10,567	$32,467	82%	$11,463
University of Rochester	35.9%	$70,306 same for all		83%	$15,091
RPI	58.4%	$66,032 same for all		80%	$25,140
St. John's University	79.7%	$55,640 same for all		69%	$20,629
John Jay	57.2%	$7,470	$15,420	54%	Not reported
Adelphi	77.5%	$52,050 same for all		71%	$22,263
University at Buffalo	69.3%	$11,036	$32,466	73%	$15,725
SUNY Cortland	50.7%	$8,874	$18,984	72%	$11,186
SUNY New Paltz	58.7%	$8,572	$19,172	69%	$11,710
SUNY Albany	69.9%	$10,881	$32,091	63%	$12,868
SUNY Oswego	80.4%	$8,825	$19,255	58%	$9,636
CCNY	58.1%	$7,340	$15,290	50%	Not reported
Buffalo State	75.9%	$8,533	$20,273	34%	$6,914
City Tech	80.7%	$7,332	$15,282	19%	$1,467
Baruch College	50.5%	$7,462	$15,412	70%	Not reported
Brooklyn College	53.7%	$7,450	$15,400	53%	Not reported
Hunter College	54.0%	$7,382	$15,332	59%	Not reported
Lehman College	55.4%	$7,410	$15,360	48%	Not reported
Queens College	68.5%	$7,538	$15,488	53%	Not reported

Admit rates: IPEDS fall 2023. Tuition and fees: College Scorecard 2025-26; private colleges charge every student the same. Graduation within 6 years: College Scorecard, students who started in 2019. Net price for families earning $0 to $30,000: College Scorecard 2024-25, students with federal aid. State medians cover every operating bachelor's-degree college in the Scorecard file.

Every state median in the summary, with its source field

Figure	Value	File, field, year
Median admit rate, New York (N = 137)	75.0%	`IPEDS ADM2023, median ADMSSN/APPLCN, bachelor's institutions, fall 2023`
Median out-of-state tuition and fees, public colleges, New York (N = 37)	$18,678	`College Scorecard, median TUITIONFEE_OUT, public bachelor's institutions, 2025-26`