Adult Learners at CUNY
Adult learners often balance the demands of higher education with work and family responsibilities. The University values this important, growing group of students age 25 and over, and offers programs and services designed to support them.
Academic Momentum 2.0
In October 2017, CUNY launched the Academic Momentum Campaign, a system-wide endeavor to improve the graduation rates of first-time freshmen through adoption of strategies that drive early degree progress: shifts in the messaging and institutional culture regarding how many credits students should attempt; degree maps for all undergraduate majors showing a realistic and timely path to completion; and a focus on increasing the rates at which students take and pass gateway math and English courses in their first year.
Black, Race and Ethnic Studies Initiative
The City University of New York recently announced an historic gift of $10 million from the Mellon Foundation to drive change across CUNY’s 25 campuses and develop and expand a range of initiatives related to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the intensified effort to advance social and racial justice. One of these important efforts is a $3 million initiative to reimagine and further develop CUNY programs in Black, race and ethnic studies, a key aspect of the University’s commitment to inclusion and to scholarship of the vast multiplicity of cultures represented by CUNY students and New York City as a whole.
Career and Industry Partnerships
With more than 250,000 students enrolled in 25 campuses across the five boroughs of New York City, the City University of New York is the largest urban University system in the United States. The Career Success Initiatives is dedicated to serving students from all 25 campuses, from orientation to getting hired. Our mission is to understand what employers need and equip our students with not only the skills to succeed, but also a choice-filled life.
CUNY Arts
CUNY Arts is an initiative founded to create opportunities for all students to experience the richness of New York City’s arts and cultural institutions. CUNY recognizes that exposure to the arts improves students’ critical thinking skills, broadening their ability to think strategically, while acknowledging the absence of the arts in most of higher education. Our mission is to expose CUNY students to the wonders of the arts in NYC.
CUNY Black Male Initiative
An important new initiative intended to increase, encourage, and support the inclusion and educational success of under-represented groups in higher education, in particular black males. All programs and activities of the Black Male Initiative are open to all academically eligible students, faculty and staff, without regard to race, gender, national origin, or other characteristic.
CUNY Cultural Corps
CUNY Cultural Corps provides opportunities for CUNY students to work in the City’s arts and cultural sector by providing students with paid work experience and creating a pipeline for students to have successful careers, while diversifying NYC’s cultural institutions.
Experiential Learning
Across every college and borough, CUNY students are engaging in high-impact learning activities ranging from hands-on internships and cutting-edge scientific research initiatives, to large-scale community service projects and course assignments that take students out of the classroom and into museums, theatres, and the natural environment.
Office of Early Childhood Initiatives
Quality child-care is essential to the educational goals of many CUNY students. CUNY Campus Child Care Centers serve students and their children in developmentally appropriate and culturally responsive ways.
Office of K16 Initiatives
The Office of K16 Initiatives hosts a diverse array of innovative programs that foster collaboration between CUNY and New York City Public Schools. K16 ensures that every incoming college student is not just prepared, but empowered for success. From early education through post-college careers, K16 develops seamless pathways for New York City youth, building college and career aspirations, increasing academic readiness, closing equity gaps, and promoting economic mobility.
Pathways
In Fall 2013, CUNY implemented the Pathways initiative across its undergraduate colleges. Pathways established a new system of general education requirements and new transfer guidelines across the University, and by doing so has reinforced CUNY’s educational excellence while easing student transfer between CUNY colleges.
Transfer Initiative
In January 2023 the CUNY Board of Trustees unanimously passed a resolution charging the university with making student transfer from a community college to a senior college seamless and at minimal or no credit loss.