CUNY is a leader in educating groups traditionally under-represented in higher education who will make up a growing portion of New York's future workforce.

A national survey published in Black Issues in Higher Education (May 30, 1996) found that the Borough of Manhattan Community College, LaGuardia Community College, New York City Technical College, Kingsborough Community College and Bronx Community College ranked second, third, fourth, sixth and seventh respectively in the number of minority students earning associate degrees. Queensborough Community College ranked twelfth and Hostos Community College ranked twenty-third in the top 100 colleges graduating minority students.

• City College and Baruch College rank, respectively, second and third nationally among traditionally white institutions in conferring baccalaureate degrees on African-Americans.
• Baruch College ranks third in the nation in the number of African-Americans and seventh in the number of Latinos receiving baccalaureate degrees in business and management.
• City College ranks second in the nation in the number of African-Americans earning engineering, technology, computer science and mathematics degrees.
• City College tied with MIT for first place in the number of graduates elected to the prestigious National Academy of Engineering in 1996.
• Lehman College ranks eighth in the number of African-Americans and Latinos earning bachelor's degrees in the health sciences.
• The Graduate School and University Center tied with Harvard University and the University of Maryland-College Park for twelfth place nationally in the number of minority doctoral degrees conferred.

The annual CUNY Big Apple Job Fair is one example of how the University helps students launch meaningful careers. The Fair not only helps graduating seniors and recent alumni, it aids New York businesses looking for well-educated and motivated employees.

• Since the Fair began in 1989, 298 individual employers have participated. The vast majority of the employers are located within New York State.
• In 1996, 4,500 CUNY graduates and 92 organizations participated in the one-day Fair.
• Ninety-four percent of the businesses reported that the Fair was successful for them.
• More than 40 percent of the students were invited for follow-up interviews by participating employers. Of those students, 24 percent were offered jobs.

One Hundred Fifty Years of Service

Since 1847, The City University of New York has provided affordable higher education to New York City's low- and middle-income residents. For most of the 20th century, many have been immigrants or children of immigrants.

Today CUNY continues that role. According to Professor David Lavin, "The University is doing for the current generation of newcomers to higher education what it has done for past generations. The only difference is that education has become far more critical for social mobility. The University is a passport to the middle class."

• Half of CUNY's students have family incomes below $22,000.
• More than half are over the age of 22.
• Nearly 60 percent work while attending school and almost half that number works full time.
• Nearly 29 percent support children.