Can you put a price on a college education? Certainly, the cost of tuition and fees can be totaled, but what is the true value of the investment students make in their educations? According to the Census Bureau, over an adult’s working life, high school graduates earn an average of $1.2 million, associate’s degree holders earn about $1.6 million, and bachelor’s degree holders earn about $2.1 million.
How, then, can students make the most of their investment? The answer: by benefiting from the high-quality instruction, varied degree offerings, and dynamic campus life offered by SUNY College at Old Westbury at the affordable price of SUNY tuition.
“Because of the investment of the State of New York in our public college, students pay less than half for a high-quality college education than students at some private colleges pay,” explains Vice President for Enrollment Services Mary Marquez Bell. “That’s money students can use later for graduate school, to buy a home, or for whatever they choose.”
How good an investment is an Old Westbury education? Just ask the 19,000 graduates of Old Westbury who are working and leading in positions throughout Long Island, across the nation and around the world. Some have led public careers, like acclaimed film producer and director John McTiernan and former Hostos Community College President Dolores Fernandez. Some attended as a full-time students. Many worked during their Old Westbury years to support themselves and their families. Most are people like your friends and neighbors, men and women who recognized the need for a quality education and continue to work today to make life better for themselves, their families and their communities.
Whether a career as an attorney, teacher, corporate leader, scientist, journalist, therapist, or artist lies in their future, Old Westbury’s nearly 4,000 students are educated in an environment that demands academic excellence while offering the close interaction that fosters the self-confidence students need to prepare themselves for the next stage in their lives. In all, the College offers 47 undergraduate degree opportunities and master’s programs in adolescence education, accounting and taxation.
“The core strength of our college is its teaching,” said College President Calvin O. Butts, III. “In small class settings, where professors educate rather than teaching assistants, our students get up close and personal with their field of interest.”
An integral part of that preparation occurs outside the classroom, as students learn through internships and interact as part of a student body recognized by U.S. News and World Report as one of the most diverse in the region. And, through its Community Engagement and Partnership Center, Old Westbury requires all freshman students to take part in civic engagement placements, in partnership with area community and human service organizations, that are linked to their academic curriculum.
To support its students as they learn, Old Westbury has invested more than $85 million into expanding and improving its campus in the past eight years. Introduced to the campus in that time have been a Student Union, residence halls, improved and enhanced classroom and research technologies, new athletic facilities, expanded television and radio studios, and more. Construction is now underway on a $74 million, 131,000-square-foot academic building slated to house the majority of the College’s undergraduate programs when it opens in 2011.
For more information about the undergraduate and graduate degree offerings at SUNY College at Old Westbury, contact the College’s Office of Enrollment Services at 516-876-3073.
