SUNY at Fredonia

Public · Moderately Selective · NY

Photo: Andre Carrotflower (CC BY-SA 4.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationNY · Northeast

SettingRural

Undergrads2,755

Student:faculty11:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate37.2%

6-yr grad rate50.2%

Drop-out rate23.8%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$9k

Out-of-state tuition$20k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity24.8%

Gender diversity56.2%

International1.6%

Identity—

Overview

SUNY Fredonia is a public university in a small western New York college town near Lake Erie, whose academic identity is dominated by an unusually strong School of Music for a public university this size. Music education and performance draw students well beyond the standard SUNY commuting radius, giving Fredonia a national reputation in a field most comparable public universities can't match. Outside music, the university offers a conventional slate of education, sciences, and liberal arts programs within a classic small-college-town setting.

Academics

The School of Music operates almost like a conservatory embedded within a public university — students audition specifically for music programs, and performance and music education both carry real depth and reputation. A related but distinct sound recording technology program has built its own following, training students in studio and production work rather than performance alone. Education is a longstanding strength as well, consistent with Fredonia's history as a teacher-training institution before it became a comprehensive university. Science programs are solid without being the university's defining identity the way music is.

Campus & student life

Fredonia's location in a small, snowy western New York town near Lake Erie gives it a self-contained, close-knit campus culture where the college is genuinely central to the town's identity. Music students in particular form a tight community built around rehearsals, recitals, and ensembles that runs alongside the more conventional residential-college social scene for non-music majors.

Getting in

Music program admission runs on audition in addition to conventional academic review, a meaningfully different and more demanding process than admission to Fredonia's other majors. The rest of the university admits at typical SUNY comprehensive-college selectivity.

After graduation

Music education graduates place well in public school teaching positions regionally and beyond, while performance and sound recording graduates feed into New York's and the broader Northeast's music and audio production industries, aided by a genuinely engaged alumni network in those fields.

fredonia.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate77.7%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 1160–1370 · ACT 23–28

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying