Here are some interesting facts about my new employer:
- The total number of students, 413,000, is pretty close to the total poplulation of the European country Luxembourg, making SUNY the largest state university system in the country.
- That 413,000-person student body includes 40 percent of all New York State high school graduates and roughly 37 percent of the state’s entire higher education student population.
- Despite the fact that New York has one of the highest costs of living in the Union, SUNY has the 13th cheapest cost of state university tuition, i.e., 37 out of 50 state universities are more expensive than SUNY.
- The per-pupil cost of education exceeds in-state tuition, which means that the New York state taxpayers partially subsidize the education of every in-state student.
- One of the reasons that it’s worthwhile for New York state taxpayers to subsidize SUNY education is because, for every state dollar received, SUNY generates $8 in total spending in NYS. For example, SUNY estimates that it had a $17.6 billion total economic impact in 2003.
Pretty impressive, huh?
You really sound like you are still thrilled to be at SUNY. Good on ya! It’s nice to join a new employer and see all the opportunities to bring one’s talents / skills to bear and make an impact. I’ll be interested to hear about how your new collegues react to the idea of perhaps shifting off their home grown LMS to something else. A comfortable pew is a tough thing to give up.
BTW, SUNY is a BIG system but I think Cal State is a touch larger at 443,000 FTSE in 2002/03 and growing. I’m not sure if I’m bragging or complaining as a grad student there.
Patrick
http://www.calstate.edu/AS/stat_abstract/stat0203/pdf/abstract/B_1_0203.pdf