Farmingdale State College

Public · Moderately Selective · NY

Photo: Batiste93 (CC BY-SA 3.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationNY · Northeast

SettingSuburban

Undergrads9,552

Student:faculty18:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate41.7%

6-yr grad rate52.8%

Drop-out rate18.4%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$9k

Out-of-state tuition$19k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity62.3%

Gender diversity40.9%

International3%

Identity—

Overview

Farmingdale State College is a SUNY campus on Long Island built around applied technology and hands-on career preparation rather than a traditional liberal-arts model. Its roots trace back to an early-1900s agricultural and technical school, a lineage still visible in specialized programs like ornamental horticulture, and it now carries SUNY's College of Technology designation, a formal grouping of SUNY campuses built around applied and professional degrees. Its overall identity remains practical and career-first, serving mostly students from Long Island and the broader New York metro area.

Academics

Aviation, engineering technology, nursing, and applied business are the signature areas, taught with an emphasis on applied and technical skill over abstract theory. The aeronautics program is unusual for operating its own flight line at Republic Airport, giving students direct flight training built into coursework rather than arranged separately, and engineering technology programs emphasize lab and project work aimed squarely at regional employer needs.

Campus & student life

Most students commute rather than live on campus, so social culture is less dorm-centered than at a traditional four-year college, with student life organized more around clubs, program-specific cohorts, and commuter-friendly scheduling. Athletics compete at the Division III level and draw modest campus attention relative to the academic and technical programs that define the school.

Getting in

Admission emphasizes academic preparation relevant to the applied, technical nature of Farmingdale's programs, with considerably less weight on essays and holistic personal narrative than at private liberal-arts institutions. A meaningful share of students arrive as transfers from SUNY community colleges through established two-plus-two articulation pathways rather than only as first-year applicants, and competitive programs like aviation and nursing carry their own additional admission steps.

After graduation

Aviation graduates move directly into piloting and aviation-industry careers, a distinctive and fairly direct pipeline uncommon among comparably sized public colleges. Nursing and engineering technology graduates find steady regional placement on Long Island and across the greater New York area, and the college's overall value proposition rests heavily on graduates entering licensed or technically credentialed fields with clear regional demand.

Worth knowing

The on-campus flight line at Republic Airport is a genuinely unusual feature worth flagging for any student seriously considering an aviation career, since few colleges anywhere offer flight training this directly integrated into a degree. Students weighing Farmingdale should go in expecting a practical, commuter-oriented campus rather than a traditional residential four-year experience.

farmingdale.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate63.3%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1040–1240 · ACT 20–28

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying