King, the SUNY system has 91,182 employees, including 32,496 faculty members, and some 7,660 degree and certificate programs overall and a $13.37 billion budget.

The system was greatly expanded during the administration of Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller, who took a personal interest in design and construction of new SUNY facilities across the state.

The first colleges were established privately, with some arising from local seminaries, and New York State had a long history of supporting higher education before the creation of the SUNY system.

In 1835, the State Legislature acted to establish stronger programs for public school teacher preparation and designated one academy in each senatorial district to receive money for a special teacher-training department.

[8] On May 7, 1844, the New York General Assembly voted to establish Normal School in Albany as the first college for teacher education.

Between 1889 and 1903, Cornell operated the New York State College of Forestry, until the governor vetoed its annual appropriation.

Between 1946 and 1948, the Temporary Commission on the Need for a State University, chaired by Owen D. Young, chairman of General Electric Company, studied New York's existing higher education institutions.

It was known New York's private institutions of higher education were highly discriminatory and failed to provide for many New Yorkers.

[10] The resolution was passed as an attempt to combat discrimination based on race or religion in many national organizations at the time.

Students at the statutory colleges who are residents of New York state receive the benefit of state-subsidized tuition while enjoying all of the campus life amenities of the host institutions.

Two Attorney General of the State of New York opinion letters[18] reduced the parliamentary rights of the student members to participate at meetings and indicated they were not in fact Public Officers, and arguably subject to personal liability from lawsuits.

In 1977, another statutory amendment made student members of SUNY councils and boards subject to the NYS Public Officers Law or NYS General Municipal Law and granted student representatives parliamentary powers of moving or seconding motions and of placing items on the agendas of the bodies.

[23] As of 2023, it offers undergraduate and graduate programs, with faculty from Stony Brook University and the Fashion Institute of Technology.

The SUNY system is also home to the College of Optometry in New York City, which maintains its own eye clinic.

[26] The teaching hospitals affiliated with each school are also highly regarded and in 2022 all three medical centers generated US$3.86 billion through patient care accounting for 29% of total SUNY revenue.

[27] In the latter half of the 20th century, the SUNY hospitals became the cores of full-fledged regional health systems; they were gradually supplemented by many outpatient clinics, offices, and institutes.

SUNY medical centers currently play a major role in providing healthcare to the most-needy and marginalized populations and serve large numbers of patients who are uninsured, under-insured or covered by Medicare and Medicaid programs.

Other requirements to qualify for free SUNY education include full-time enrollment and staying in the state for a number of years after graduating.

[45] Every school within the SUNY system manages its own athletics program, which greatly varies the level of competition at each institution.

Frequently referred to as the I-88 Rivalry, Binghamton and Albany sit at either end of Interstate 88 (roughly 2.5 hours apart).

In football, a sport not sponsored by the America East, Albany and Stony Brook have a rivalry in the Coastal Athletic Association, and play each other annually in the Battle for the Golden Apple.

All three share rivalries with Saint Bonaventure University, another private college 70 miles south of Buffalo.