Plan Sets Ambitious Targets to Reshape Student Experience from Enrollment to Employment; Improve Transfer Process, Advance Public-Impact Research, Upgrade Infrastructure and Increase Enrollment
‘CUNY Lifting New York’ Builds on University’s Role as Indispensable New York Institution
The City University of New York (CUNY) announced the release of “CUNY Lifting New York,” a strategic plan to transform CUNY into the nation’s foremost student-centered University system by 2030 and intensify its role as an indispensable New York City institution that improves the lives of New Yorkers through public-benefit research, workforce partnerships, economic development, and affordable, top-quality education. The plan lays the groundwork for increasing CUNY’s impact as an engine of upward social and civic mobility by establishing strategies and targets to expand access and enhance student success, academic offerings, post-college outcomes and the system’s infrastructure and technology resources.
“For more than 175 years, the City University of New York has served as an important vehicle of upward mobility, ensuring an accessible, quality education to all New Yorkers regardless of background or circumstances,” said CUNY Board of Trustees Chairperson William C. Thompson Jr. “The Board of Trustees remains deeply committed to upholding the unique role that CUNY serves in New York City and the CUNY Lifting New York plan will ensure that the University will continue on this path for decades to come.”
“This strategic plan, the product of diligent reflection, assessment and consultation from across the CUNY community, outlines our vision for evaluating and reimagining all aspects of our system so that we can leverage the rapid changes of the higher education landscape while continuing to reflect the ideals upon which CUNY was founded,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “The prosperity of New York and the legendary cutting-edge talent of CUNY are intertwined; moving forward, it is imperative that we ensure the University’s ability to meet the evolving needs of students and employers across the region and to sustain CUNY’s unmatched success in uplifting these constituencies through the power of education.”
To create this roadmap, a collective community process led by a steering committee convened more than 140 campus leaders and 2,000 community members in town halls and listening sessions over the course of 18 months. They considered trends affecting public universities nationwide and reviewed the strategic plans from more than 70 convening bodies, task forces and working groups from across CUNY. Underpinning this work is CUNY’s long-standing mandate to foster a diverse and inclusive community. CUNY is uniquely positioned to leverage and showcase the many ways in which a high-quality, affordable, public education, lifts not only its students, and their families, but our City and State.
CUNY Lifting New York outlines an ambitious data-driven seven-year roadmap built from the ground up and incorporating the vision and priorities of the CUNY Board of Trustees and Chancellor Matos Rodríguez and his leadership team. The plan is welcomed by a wide-range of City and State leaders, funding partners and other stakeholders.
The full plan can be seen on a new CUNY Lifting New York website. The site offers metrics for each goal and information about the progress so far for each initiative. A downloadable version of the plan is available here.
Below are five key goals of the plan:
1. Improve Career Outcomes
CUNY will improve overall post-graduation outcomes for students, and uphold the University’s commitment to prepare them for careers that help them achieve their long-term personal and professional goals. By 2030, CUNY will increase by 20% the number of employers who actively recruit CUNY students and triple the number of students who complete a paid internship. A new central, career-focused office will help build relationships with employers and connect students to recruitment and professional development.
Since his appointment in 2019, the Chancellor has made the improvement of career outcomes for students a central focus of his tenure. CUNY has prioritized the expansion of workforce development initiatives for its students and graduates. Such efforts include establishing a collaboration with the New York Jobs CEO Council, a coalition of CEOs from some of the city’s largest employers, with the goal of employing 100,000 low-income and diverse New Yorkers — including 25,000 CUNY students and graduates — by the end of the decade; preparing students for careers in financial services and connecting businesses to CUNY talent through CUNY Futures in Finance, an industry partnership formed by Centerbridge Partners, Bloomberg LP, and Goldman Sachs; launching a partnership with Google and other industry leaders for the CUNY Tech Equity initiative to broaden participation in tech majors, expand tech-focused career awareness from the first day on campus, increase the number of paid internships, and grow tech employer engagement; building a $16 million public-private partnership CUNY Inclusive Economy supported by Mayor Eric Adams; to bolster campus industry engagement and connect students to paid internships including via CUNY Career Launch.
2. Reshape Student Success
CUNY will redouble its historical role as an equity-driven university by giving students more support and services to achieve academic success. The University will also use data-driven best practices and adopt a proactive approach to curriculum development, and both associate and baccalaureate graduation rates at CUNY colleges will exceed national benchmarks. CUNY will work toward exceeding predicted graduation rates by developing an integrated approach that allows advisers, faculty and other providers of support services to employ targeted interventions in real time, with a focus on closing equity gaps. The University will better address mental health, food and housing insecurity and other essential needs that must be met for learning to thrive.
3. Streamline Student Transfer within CUNY
To remove financial and logistical barriers, CUNY is implementing a system-wide transfer process that enables students to move seamlessly within CUNY campuses and degree programs. In past years, many students who had earned associate degrees would lose credits when they transferred to a bachelor’s degree program for the same major at another CUNY college. The streamlining of the transfer process is underway. The CUNY Board of Trustees this year passed a resolution establishing that no later than Dec. 31, 2024 all students who transfer between an associate and bachelor’s degree program will be able to transfer all credits earned in a specific major.
4. Advance Public-Impact Research
CUNY plays an integral role in the lifeblood of our communities. The University’s cutting-edge research in service to the public elevates our teaching, expands the frontiers of knowledge and culture and generates innovative and transformative advances for our City, State, nation, and world. CUNY will increase by 20 percent the dollars awarded for research and the number of funded grants leveraging CUNY’s distinctive scale, diversity and location in New York City for the well-being of local communities, improving the everyday lives of New Yorkers in tangible and meaningful ways.
5. Maintain State-of-the-Art Facilities & Technology
CUNY has 300 buildings comprising 29 million square feet of classrooms, research labs, offices, athletic facilities and more. These buildings are also used by New Yorkers for meetings, conference space, joint programs and voting as our campuses have polling sites. CUNY will develop operating procedures to maintain campus facilities at standardized levels of excellence. The University will also embrace dynamic and continuous master planning with an eye on maintaining a long-term state of good repair across all campuses, and coordinate technology system-wide to ensure the vitality of academic programs and student supports. Over the next seven years, CUNY will move to a 90 percent on-time completion of facilities projects and will work toward a goal of having 55 percent of buildings in good repair.
CUNY will also automate its programs and processes by using the latest integrated technology across the system and our campuses. The University will ensure that technology is coordinated university-wide to benefit the entirety of the academic enterprise at the campus and system levels.
Increasing Enrollment and Retention
Besides the five goals outlined above, the plan includes many other initiatives aimed at amplifying equitable outcomes for all students, from the need to increase enrollment to ensure the doors of a high-quality affordable public education remain open to all New Yorkers regardless of means or backgrounds to increasing fundraising to better serve students and support innovative research.
CUNY will increase enrollment and retention for undergraduate and graduate students by implementing a modern approach to admissions, financial aid and other programs aimed at removing barriers for students. One example of this goal in action is CUNY Reconnect, a City Council-envisioned program aimed at helping working-age New Yorkers re-enroll in college. Although the initial goal was to bring back 10,000 students, Reconnect surpassed this by re-enrolling more than 16,000 in the 2022-23 academic year. CUNY will also work to increase the pipeline of students of color and other underrepresented groups entering graduate and professional programs by evaluating recruitment, admissions, marketing and support systems.
For students who desire flexibility due to family responsibilities, jobs or distance, CUNY offers low-cost, high-quality online learning, and is looking to increase the number of certificate and degree programs fully online by 100% by 2030. A new CUNY Online website was launched in March 2023 highlighting over 175 fully online degree programs. A comprehensive market analysis of CUNY’s academic programs, completed in December 2022, is informing development of 30 additional online programs across 20 campuses over the next year.
These and other platforms and strategies will enable CUNY to deliver the opportunity and benefits of higher education to a broader audience, making good on a key component of its mission. Creative and targeted programs will support students from all stages of life, including adult learners, members of the military, veterans, working parents and those who enrolled in a degree program but didn’t complete it.
To meet the ambitious targets outlined in the strategic plan, CUNY will publish detailed action plans each year that identify the concrete steps, metrics and progress being achieved annually for each goal. This multi-layered approach will provide the flexibility, creativity and discipline necessary to meet this exciting, vital period of change for the University.
“As the education landscape continues to change, it is imperative that our education institutions adjust how they operate to best serve their students and communities,” said State Education Commissioner Betty A. Rosa. “I applaud CUNY on its bold vision for the future and look forward to building on our partnership as we look at how to increase opportunities for the next generation of students.”
“The New York Times recently published an article that listed five CUNY schools in the top 10 of colleges and universities across the country for students whose priorities are high earnings, low net price and favorable admissions standards. That is how CUNY earned the reputation as one of the greatest drivers of affordable upward mobility in the entire country,” said State Senator Toby Ann Stavisky, chair of the Committee on Higher Education. “We need to continue to invest in our CUNY system to increase enrollment and provide more opportunities for students. This plan will help CUNY continue to deliver the high quality, accessible education it’s been known for since its inception in 1847.”
“CUNY continues to reinvent itself and meet the changing needs of its student body while continuing to place a focus on affordability and equity,” said Assembly Member Patricia Fahy, chair of the Higher Education Committee. “CUNY is a great equalizer, uplifting thousands of students every year and providing them with a pathway to a better future and on the way to achieving their dreams of securing a degree and dream career. CUNY’s new strategic plan will continue this legacy and build on its reputation of being a driver of upward socioeconomic mobility for many students from a wide swathe of backgrounds, and I look forward to seeing it implemented.”
“CUNY is an engine of opportunity within our city, and its strategic plan rightly focuses on helping improve the lives of New Yorkers,” said City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. “CUNY programs have achieved remarkable success, including the Council-led CUNY Reconnect initiative, which far surpassed its first-year goal to re-enroll 16,000 working-age students towards completion of a degree. CUNY’s many institutions offer proven pathways to success and deserve the City’s full support and funding. I thank Chancellor Matos Rodríguez and everyone at CUNY for their work to advance the system’s role in expanding opportunity, and I look forward to our continued partnership to uplift all New Yorkers.”
“It is encouraging to know the strategic plan for CUNY resulted from a process that sought the collective input and expertise of a diverse group of stakeholders across the University. I’m confident this thorough approach produced a plan that will ensure CUNY’s ongoing ability to meet the evolving needs of students, employers and New Yorkers,” said Council Member Eric Dinowitz, chair of the Higher Education Committee. “The strategic goals established by ‘CUNY Lifting New York’ aim to expand access and enhance student success, academic offerings, post-college outcomes and the system’s infrastructure and technology resources. The plan provides a strong foundation for CUNY to become the nation’s foremost student-centered University system by 2030, and to continue its legacy of providing higher education to the diverse communities it serves.”
“CUNY is a true New York City success story. CUNY is our city’s pathway to economic prosperity for people of all backgrounds, and any efforts to boost CUNY in that role and in its overall impact will always have my enthusiastic support,” said Council Member Justin Brannan, chair of the Finance Committee. “CUNY’s strategic plan will take what our city’s higher education system already does at an unparalleled level and make it even bigger and better, delivering improved results for even more students. We need to invest in our city’s future, and there’s no more direct way to do that than by supporting CUNY.”
“As a proud CUNY alum, I know firsthand the transformational role the university plays in people’s lives,” said City Council Majority Leader Keith Powers. “CUNY is a beacon of opportunity that provides thousands of New Yorkers with a high-quality, low-cost education. I commend the university for this bold plan that will position it for another decade of successfully fulfilling its mission.”
“It’s vitally important that universities adapt to a changing world,” said Council Member Gale A. Brewer, an adjunct instructor at Hunter College. “This new CUNY Strategic Plan is the product of a wide-ranging process touching on every school and thousands of stakeholders — and it will help preserve CUNY’s role as an engine of upward mobility in our city.”
“With this new strategic plan, CUNY is committing to prepare students for personal and professional success beyond college,” said Kathryn Wylde, President & CEO, Partnership for New York City. “The business community supports this direction and will continue to partner with this great public university system to maximize economic opportunities for its students.”
“CUNY is New York City’s leading driver of social mobility,” said Kiersten Barnet, Executive Director of New York Jobs CEO Council. “The Jobs Council employers hired over 4,000 CUNY graduates last year and have benefited from this rich pool of skilled local talent. The new strategic plan will continue to strengthen student pathways into high-paying jobs and fortify a robust talent pipeline for employers.”
“We commend CUNY for developing this forward-looking strategic plan,” said Melva M. Miller, CEO of the Association for a Better New York. “By advancing higher educational opportunities, often in communities that have historically lacked access, CUNY has long played an integral role in building a better New York, and will continue to do so in 2030 and beyond.”
“CUNY is already New York’s most powerful engine of economic mobility, and its impact is only growing,” said Jonathan Bowles, Executive Director, Center for an Urban Future. “By focusing on improving career outcomes and boosting student success, CUNY’s strategic plan lays the foundation for a more effective institution — and a more equitable economy — that will benefit generations of New Yorkers and the city as a whole for years to come.”
“The New York City financial services industry is fortunate to have the largest public, urban higher-education institution in our own backyard,” said Jeff Aronson, Managing Principal and Co-Founder of Centerbridge. “At Centerbridge, we believe that investing in local talent is critical for CUNY and for creating a more diverse and dynamic workforce for our industry. We remain committed to working together with CUNY and our partners to drive long-lasting, meaningful impact across New York City.”
“As a native New Yorker, and an immigrant to this country, I understand how critical opportunities like the apprenticeship program we have launched with CUNY are to creating opportunities for students from diverse backgrounds,” said Carmine Di Sibio, Global Chairman and CEO of EY. “New York City is a mixing bowl, with the various cultures and ethnicities creating the vibrant culture that attracts people from all over the world. It is our duty as large employers here to embrace this diverse talent and support and train the next generation of New Yorkers to gain not just employment, but careers.”
“At Amazon, we value our ongoing partnership with CUNY and joint commitment to ensure that our future leaders have the support they need to grow their skills and be set up for success once they graduate,” said Carley Graham Garcia, Amazon’s Head of Community Affairs in New York. “This new strategic plan is a wonderful initiative that demonstrates how committed CUNY is to ensuring that students have access to every possible opportunity during this pivotal moment in their lives.”
“Google has been a long-time supporter of CUNY’s work to expand education and economic opportunities to all New Yorkers,” said Tequila Lamar, Google’s Tech Education Outreach Lead for NYC. “We applaud Chancellor Matos Rodríguez and his team for ‘CUNY Lifting New York.’ We see this as a key blueprint for preparing students for future careers, and a roadmap to help employers and organizations like Google to successfully partner with CUNY.”
The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving over 243,000 undergraduate and graduate students and awarding 55,000 degrees each year. CUNY’s mix of quality and affordability propels almost six times as many low-income students into the middle class and beyond as all the Ivy League colleges combined. More than 80 percent of the University’s graduates stay in New York, contributing to all aspects of the city’s economic, civic and cultural life and diversifying the city’s workforce in every sector. CUNY’s graduates and faculty have received many prestigious honors, including 13 Nobel Prizes and 26 MacArthur “Genius” Grants. The University’s historic mission continues to this day: provide a first-rate public education to all students, regardless of means or background.
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