Research brief & institution hub

SUNY College at Geneseo

NYMedium public institution · Overall rank #495 nationally

Data snapshot Updated

Azimuth ranks SUNY College at Geneseo #495 among 1,467 nonprofit four-year institutions.

Who it’s a good fit for

SUNY College at Geneseo is a public university in Geneseo, New York, where Education and Business account for the largest shares of degrees. The fit is clearest for a student who wants a traditional liberal-arts-and-sciences campus at a public price and expects to work after the degree.

Most graduates are estimated to go into jobs rather than on to further study. Graduates earn less than predicts for students like them.

The model attributes an addition to the factors it measures and a subtraction to the remainder it cannot explain. Return is modestly below average.

Students who arrive with Pell Grants finish below the rate for the entering cohort as a whole, and mobility is well above average. The lowest income band averages a net price well below the published cost, while affordability is above average.

The admission rate is below the median for comparable institutions. A student drawn to the largest programs should know that the highest-earning ones are much smaller.

SUNY College at Geneseo at a glance

Admissions and outcomes

Admission rate[1]
66.4%
Six-year completion[2]
71.5%
Four-year earnings[3]
$63,560

Cost and family borrowing

Average annual net price · $48–75K family income[6]
$16,142
Median student debt[4]
$19,500
Median Parent PLUS debt[7]
$22,092

SUNY College at Geneseo rankings: how Azimuth assesses value[5]

SUNY College at Geneseo lands in the middle of the Azimuth ranking among nonprofit four-year institutions (66th percentile). The public university in Geneseo, New York, enrolls 3,869 undergraduates.

SUNY College at Geneseo accepts 66.5% of those who apply, against a peer median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size). Retention for the first-year class reaches 87.0%, against a peer median of 73.7% at comparable institutions.

The six-year graduation rate stands at 71.5% for the first-time full-time cohort alone, against a peer median of 49.1%. An estimated 15.5% of all entrants arrive as transfers or part-time students, so that completion figure does not cover the entire student body.

Return is the weakest of the four , at the 42nd percentile, while mobility is the strongest, at the 79th percentile. Access sits in the middle at the 58th percentile, and affordability is closer to mobility at the 69th percentile. The pillars do not cluster tightly together.

The four Azimuth pillars sit at different levels for SUNY College at Geneseo, with mobility the clearest strength and return the one that calls for closer attention. Mobility is in the 79th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Affordability follows at the 69th percentile, and access at the 58th percentile. Return is the weakest of the four, at the 42nd percentile.

27.6% of undergraduates at SUNY College at Geneseo receive Pell Grants. Azimuth ranks SUNY College at Geneseo #610 for access among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Pell recipients complete at 63.3%, 8.2 percentage points below the overall six-year graduation rate (71.5%). For mobility, Azimuth ranks the university #308. Graduates earn about $11,986 less than the model expects for similar students.

How value-added outcomes are assessed · How to interpret program rankings

SUNY College at Geneseo rankings in context
GeographyRank
National#495

Azimuth overall value rankings within each geographic comparison group.

National pillar percentiles

Economic mobility
National percentile: 79
Access & reach
National percentile: 58
Affordability
National percentile: 69
Return on investment
National percentile: 42

Top-ranked majors

  1. Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas#16
  2. Special Education and Teaching#18
  3. Sociology#35

This school’s three highest-ranked programs nationally. Each rank compares bachelor’s programs in the same field; field sizes differ.

Explore major rankings

01 / SUNY College at Geneseo briefing

SUNY College at Geneseo cost & financial aid[6][7]

The published cost of attendance at SUNY College at Geneseo is $27,709, but the average aid recipient pays considerably less. In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported in-state tuition of $7,070 and required fees of $1,965 for the 2025-26 academic year, with on-campus food and housing at $16,634.

Nonresidents face tuition of $17,970. After grants and scholarships, the average net price for aid recipients is $18,211.

Aid covers about 34% of the published cost for the average aid recipient, a savings of $9,498 against the sticker price. That net price is $4,143 above the $14,068 median at comparable institutions (same type and size).

Azimuth ranks the university #446 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

The published cost of attendance at SUNY College at Geneseo is $27,709. Azimuth ranks the university #446 for affordability among nonprofit four-year institutions.

For families earning under $30,000, it is $10,018; for those earning $48,001 to $75,000, it is $16,142; and for those earning over $110,000, it is $23,043. The spread between the lowest and highest bands is $13,025.

Aid covers about 34% of the published cost for the average aid recipient. The average net price across all aid recipients is $18,211, which is $4,143 above the peer median of $14,068 for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Borrowers who complete a degree leave with a median of $19,500 in federal student loans. That is $1,729 below the peer median of $21,229 for comparable institutions.

90.8% of federal aid recipients take federal loans. Parents who borrow through the Parent PLUS program hold a separate median of $22,092.

If repaid over ten years, the median federal student debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $222 a month.

Your family income

Choose a household income range to see estimated net price.

Reported average annual net price · $48–75K$16,142

After grants and scholarships. Your aid offer may differ.

Averages within each income band; individual aid packages vary.

Borrowing and repayment at SUNY College at Geneseo

The return picture at SUNY College at Geneseo is mixed. Four years after completion, graduates earn a median of $63,560, which is $6,259 above the $57,301 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

That raw earnings figure sits at the 62nd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. However, graduates earn about $11,986 less than the model expects for similar students, a result that places the university at the 14th percentile for earnings beyond expectations.

Earnings scenarios, estimated from the program mix, show a range: a typical scenario of $63,560, a downside of $51,347, and an upside of $78,159. On the debt side, the median federal student loan balance of $19,500 is $1,729 below the peer median.

That debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $222 a month if repaid over ten years.

For the separate population of parent borrowers, median Parent PLUS borrowing is $22,092. For student borrowers, the median federal debt corresponds to an estimated payment of $222 a month if repaid over ten years.

How Financial GPS measures payment burden · The four risk-and-reward zones

Financial GPS

What does repayment look like?

Institution median student debt
$19,500
Institution Parent PLUS debt
$22,092

Federal loans only; private or institutional loans aren’t included.

Estimated student payment · monthly
$222/mo
Estimated Parent PLUS payment · monthly
$281/mo

Payments use school-wide median balances, not a specific major’s.

Payment assumptions

Payments are 10-year standard payments on the median balance, before loan fees, used as a yardstick. Rates for newly issued loans may differ, and loans made after July 1, 2026 can repay over a longer term; existing loans keep their original fixed rates.

Explore your own numbers in Financial GPS
Read the full cost & aid brief

02 / SUNY College at Geneseo briefing

SUNY College at Geneseo career outcomes & earnings[3][8][9]

At SUNY College at Geneseo, the return pillar sits at the 42nd percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $11,986 less than the model expects for similar students, and that gap is in the 14th percentile.

The median earnings four years after completion are $63,560, which is $6,259 above the $57,301 median for comparable institutions (same type and size). That figure is in the 62nd percentile.

The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $1,723. The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $13,709. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $974.

At SUNY College at Geneseo, the median earnings for federally aided graduates four years after completion is $63,560, based on a cohort of 963 completers. That is $6,259 above the $57,301 median for comparable institutions (same type and size).

Graduates earn about $11,986 less than the model expects for similar students. The gap sits at the 14th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions.

Earnings scenarios estimated from the program mix show a typical figure of $63,560, with a downside scenario of $51,347 and an upside of $78,159. An estimated 38.2% of graduates continue to graduate study, based on the program mix.

At the four-year mark after completion, federally aided graduates who are working and not enrolled show median earnings of $63,560, placing the result at the 62nd percentile nationally. The peer median for comparable institutions (same type and size) is $57,301, leaving the university $6,259 above that benchmark overall.

For return, Azimuth ranks SUNY College at Geneseo #853 among nonprofit four-year institutions. Graduates earn about $11,986 less than the model expects for similar students.

That places the earnings gap at the 14th percentile. The part the model attributes to the factors it measures (field of study, enrollment and the local labor market) adds $1,723.

The part it attributes to a remainder it does not explain subtracts $13,709. Within the measured factors, the STEM component adds $974.

Bachelor's degrees awarded cluster heavily in education, psychology, business, and communication, with smaller but notable showings in economics, accounting, and the natural sciences. Estimated earnings scenarios derived from the program mix run from $51,347 on the downside to $78,159 on the upside for completers.

An estimated 38.2% of graduates continue on to graduate study, based on the program mix rather than on any observed enrollment data.

The earnings scenarios point to a wide spread: the downside scenario is $51,347 while the upside reaches $78,159. Program choice matters here.

At the higher end, Economics graduates earn $84,529 four years after completion, from 30 degrees awarded a year. Accounting follows at $84,177, and Business Administration and Management at $78,286.

At SUNY College at Geneseo, graduates earn about $11,986 less than the model expects for similar students. That gap sits at the 14th percentile among nonprofit four-year institutions, so the debt profile matters alongside earnings for anyone measuring return.

Federal debt for borrowers who finish runs to a median of $19,500, which is $1,729 below the median at comparable institutions (same type and size). If repaid over ten years, the median federal debt yields an estimated monthly payment of $222.

Graduates leave with below-peer debt despite earnings that fall short of the model's expectation. The combination pulls in two directions: borrowing is lighter than the peer median, yet the earnings gap is negative.

What explains value-added earnings?
Program & institutional factors The part attributed to observed institutional characteristics.
+$1,723
Unexplained remainder What remains after the model’s observed factors.
-$13,709
Total modeled value added The modeled difference from expected earnings.
-$11,986

These are statistical model components, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

Read the full outcomes brief

03 / SUNY College at Geneseo briefing

SUNY College at Geneseo acceptance rate & admissions[1][10][11]

SUNY College at Geneseo admits 66.5% of applicants, a rate well below the median of 85.9% for comparable institutions (same type and size). In its 2024-25 Common Data Set, the university reported 15,252 first-year applicants and 10,162 admitted students.

SAT: reported composite scores
Admission rate
66.4%
25th percentile
1210
Median
1250
75th percentile
1340

CDS 2024-25 · enrolled first-year score submitters. This range is not an admission cutoff.

Read the full admissions brief

04 / SUNY College at Geneseo briefing

What are the largest majors at SUNY College at Geneseo?[12]

Graduates of Economics earn a median of $84,529 four years after completion, from 30 degrees awarded. Azimuth ranks the program #100 nationally among nonprofit four-year institutions in its field and #11 in New York.

Business Administration and Management awards 124 degrees a year, with median earnings of $78,286 four years after completion. Azimuth ranks it #84 nationally and #4 in New York.

Special Education and Teaching awards 73 degrees a year, with median earnings of $54,908 four years after completion. Azimuth ranks it #18 nationally in its field and #6 in New York.

Education accounts for 19.2% of bachelor's degrees awarded, ahead of Business at 15.4% and Psychology at 15.0%. Psychology is the largest single program, at 167 degrees a year.

Azimuth ranks it #60 within its field, and graduates earn a median of $57,972 four years after completion. Accounting is a smaller program at 48 degrees a year, ranks #96 nationally, and its graduates earn $84,177.

Azimuth has ranked 15 programs at the university, and 20 programs have published earnings data.

Education accounts for 19.2% of bachelor's degrees awarded at SUNY College at Geneseo, with Business and Psychology next at 15.4% and 15.0%. The university has 15 programs with an Azimuth national rank and 20 with published four-year earnings data.

The largest single program is Psychology, at 167 degrees awarded, followed by Business Administration and Management at 124 and Biology at 117. The highest-ranked program is Subject-Area Teacher Education, with 69 degrees awarded and median earnings of $62,420 four years after completion.

Azimuth ranks it #7 in New York within its field. Special Education and Teaching is close behind, with 73 degrees awarded and a national rank of #18 within its field.

Sociology is a smaller program at 20 degrees awarded. Its graduates earn $65,234, and the program has a benchmark ratio of 1.24x against the national median for its field.

The highest-earning program is Economics, where graduates earn $84,529 four years out, from 30 degrees awarded a year. The largest programs are not the highest earners: Psychology graduates earn $57,972, and Special Education and Teaching graduates earn $54,908.

Strength is spread across several fields rather than concentrated in one. The top-ranked programs are in education and the social sciences, while the highest earnings come from economics and business.

15.9% of degrees awarded are in STEM fields. Four-year earnings for fields where graduates commonly pursue graduate study may understate later trajectories.

Four-year earnings · six largest reported fields
Psychology, General 167 degrees awarded
$57,972
Business Administration, Management and Operations 124 degrees awarded
$78,286
Biology, General 117 degrees awarded
$66,852
Communication and Media Studies 101 degrees awarded
$63,577
Special Education and Teaching 73 degrees awarded
$54,908
Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods 72 degrees awarded
$54,725

Fields selected by reported completions. Counts describe credentials awarded, not unique students or the earnings sample. Bars show median four-year earnings.

Read the full majors brief

05 / SUNY College at Geneseo briefing

What colleges are similar to SUNY College at Geneseo?[15]

Azimuth groups alternatives by admissions, location, cost and earnings, then orders candidates within each group. Peer earnings use the matched four-year cohort. How matching works.

A shortlist for different decisions

Choose a row to compare the figures with SUNY College at Geneseo.

Admissions peerCanisius University72.4% admitted
Comparison with SUNY College at Geneseo
MeasureSUNY College at GeneseoCanisius University
Peer earnings · 4 years$63,560$59,476-$4,084 vs SUNY College at Geneseo
Average annual net price$18,211$17,940-$271 vs SUNY College at Geneseo · lower cost
Admission rate66.4%72.4%
Higher-admission alternativeNiagara University87.4% admitted
Comparison with SUNY College at Geneseo
MeasureSUNY College at GeneseoNiagara University
Peer earnings · 4 years$63,560$67,652+$4,092 vs SUNY College at Geneseo
Average annual net price$18,211$17,248-$963 vs SUNY College at Geneseo · lower cost
Admission rate66.4%87.4%
Nearby alternativeState University of New York at CortlandNearby option · NY
Comparison with SUNY College at Geneseo
MeasureSUNY College at GeneseoState University of New York at Cortland
Peer earnings · 4 years$63,560$58,555-$5,005 vs SUNY College at Geneseo
Average annual net price$18,211$22,345+$4,134 vs SUNY College at Geneseo · higher cost
Admission rate66.4%59.8%
Explore State University of New York at Cortland →
Higher-earnings alternativeDaemen University$70,310 earnings
Comparison with SUNY College at Geneseo
MeasureSUNY College at GeneseoDaemen University
Peer earnings · 4 years$63,560$70,310+$6,750 vs SUNY College at Geneseo
Average annual net price$18,211$18,693+$482 vs SUNY College at Geneseo · higher cost
Admission rate66.4%68.3%
Lower-cost alternativeCUNY Lehman College$3,148 average net price
Comparison with SUNY College at Geneseo
MeasureSUNY College at GeneseoCUNY Lehman College
Peer earnings · 4 years$63,560$63,353-$207 vs SUNY College at Geneseo
Average annual net price$18,211$3,148-$15,063 vs SUNY College at Geneseo · lower cost
Admission rate66.4%56.6%
Explore CUNY Lehman College →
Similar profileWorcester State UniversityMatched across several measures
Comparison with SUNY College at Geneseo
MeasureSUNY College at GeneseoWorcester State University
Peer earnings · 4 years$63,560$63,801+$241 vs SUNY College at Geneseo
Average annual net price$18,211$13,381-$4,830 vs SUNY College at Geneseo · lower cost
Admission rate66.4%88.0%
Explore Worcester State University →

Each school is the first-ranked match in its category, not a recommendation across every measure. The same college may lead more than one category. Figures use the matching snapshot; earnings reflect the matched four-year cohort. — means unavailable.

Read the full similar schools brief

Data scope & methodology

Structured payloads generated Governed hub narrative Governed spoke corpus

Four-year earnings describe cohorts of completers. Figures for other horizons describe different cohorts and are not joined into a career-growth projection.

Azimuth's overall rank and pillar percentiles come from the school profile. Absolute pillar ranks, city, enrollment and official-site links are shown only when structured data supplies them.

Detailed earnings, cost, admissions and program values come from the endpoint responsible for each measure. Missing values are not replaced with zero. Value-added estimates are model associations, not causal effects.

Figures are refreshed with each data release, at most a quarter apart. The underlying source dates can be earlier than the release.

Explanatory text is AI-assisted drafting checked against those figures; it is not an additional data source.

Analysis and methodology by Daniel Rogers, founder of College Azimuth.

Read the ranking methodology, data definitions and limitations · About College Azimuth

Read the analysis behind value-added earnings and the change to four-year graduate earnings. These articles are published on collegeazimuth.com.

Data notes & source fields

Scorecard field codes identify the underlying measure; Azimuth-derived values are labeled separately. Snapshot dates are not measurement years. Source populations and reporting periods differ across measures. Field definitions are in the U.S. Department of Education · College Scorecard documentation; notes with a different source link it below.

  1. Admission rate. Reported applicants admitted; not a transfer-specific or individual admission probability.

    Source fields: ADM_RATE

  2. Six-year completion. First-time, full-time students completing at the institution within 150% of normal time, typically six years for a bachelor’s degree.

    Source fields: C150_4

  3. Four-year institutional earnings. Median earnings of graduates in the reported cohort who are working and not enrolled, four years after completion.

    Source fields: MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

  4. Median federal student debt. Federal student-loan debt among completers in the reported borrowing cohort. Excludes Parent PLUS and is not total debt across all students.

    Source fields: GRAD_DEBT_MDN

  5. National, regional and state ranks; pillar percentiles; major ranks. Derived scores within the stated eligible comparison set, not raw Scorecard fields. Major ranks compare institutions within a field; their denominators differ.

    Source fields: Azimuth rankings

    College Azimuth · Ranking methodology

  6. Annual net price by family income. Average annual cost after grants and scholarships for the eligible first-time, full-time aid-recipient cohort. Public-school figures reflect in-state tuition. Includes living costs; these are averages, not medians or individual offers.

    Source fields: NPT4_PUB/PRIV; NPT41_PUB/PRIV through NPT45_PUB/PRIV

  7. Parent PLUS debt, payments and GPS illustration. Stored payments use Financial GPS loan and repayment assumptions. The adjustable spectrum applies the published framework to annual student payments divided by earnings minus an expense allowance; its initial allowance uses the frozen 2024 framework baseline. It is an illustration rather than a school rating. Parent PLUS uses the completer median where available, otherwise the all-borrower median; these describe different borrowing populations.

    Source fields: PLUS_DEBT_ALL_COMP_MD; fallback PLUS_DEBT_ALL_MD; Azimuth Financial GPS calculations

    College Azimuth · Financial GPS methodology

  8. Downside and upside earnings; yellow band. The band spans the modeled lower and higher scenarios. It is not the P25–P75 interval for individual graduates. The median marker is the separately reported institutional median.

    Source fields: Azimuth modeled program-mix scenarios

    College Azimuth · Earnings scenario methodology

  9. Value added and its components. Observed-factor attribution plus the unexplained remainder equals total modeled value added. These are associations, not proven causal effects; the remainder is not a direct measure of teaching quality.

    Source fields: Azimuth statistical model

    College Azimuth · Value-added methodology

  10. SAT score range and reported midpoint. Reported scores of enrolled score-submitters, not admission cutoffs. The midpoint field is not necessarily the middle of the displayed range.

    Source fields: SATVR25 + SATMT25; SATVR75 + SATMT75; SAT_AVG

  11. First-year retention. Retention of the reported full-time cohort at four-year institutions.

    Source fields: RET_FT4

  12. Program earnings, completion counts and major-mix dots. Included bachelor’s programs have at least five reported completions. Counts are aggregated credentials, not unique people or an earnings sample. Major-mix dots group those counts by field of study; excluded programs are not zero activity.

    Source fields: EARN_MDN_4YR; IPEDSCOUNT1; CIPCODE

    College Scorecard · Field-of-study technical documentation

  13. Pell recipients. Share of undergraduates receiving a Pell Grant in the reported academic year.

    Source fields: PCTPELL

  14. Entering students outside the first-time, full-time group. This is not an observed transfer-in rate. It includes part-time entrants and other entering-student attendance patterns.

    Source fields: 1 − PFTFTUG1_EF

  15. Peer earnings and signed differences. Differences are peer minus this school, from the same matching snapshot. A positive earnings difference does not mean the peer is better on every measure.

    Source fields: Azimuth peer model using MD_EARN_WNE_4YR

    College Azimuth · Comparison methodology

How to interpret program rankings