Fast Facts
Brooklyn College Facts 2020–21 (pdf)
President
Michelle Anderson is the tenth president of Brooklyn College, having assumed the office in August 2016.
Location
2900 Bedford Avenue at Avenue H in the Midwood section of Brooklyn
Mission Statement
Brooklyn College provides a transformative, distinctive, and affordable education to students from all backgrounds. We are proud of our history of intellectual freedom and academic excellence, as well as our location in a borough known for innovation, culture, and the arts. We have a special commitment to educate immigrants and first-generation college students from the diverse communities that make up our city and state. Our striving spirit reflects our motto: "Nothing without great effort." Through outstanding research and academic programs in the arts, business, education, humanities, and sciences, we graduate well-rounded individuals who think critically and creatively to solve problems. They become leaders who transform their fields and professions and serve our increasingly global community.
Undergraduate Tuition
New York State Residents
- $3,465 per semester for full-time students
- $305 per credit for part-time students
- $445 per credit for nondegree resident students
Nonresidents
- $620 per credit for full- and part-time students
- $915 per credit for nondegree students
Graduate Tuition
New York State Residents
- $5,545 per semester for full-time students
- $470 per credit for part-time students
- $225 for maintenance of matriculation for resident full-time students
Nonresidents
- $855 per credit for full- and part-time students
- $370 for maintenance of matriculation
Degrees
Brooklyn College offers 81 undergraduate programs, 74 graduate programs, and 20 certificates and advanced certificates and diplomas in business, education, the humanities, performing arts, sciences, social sciences, and preprofessional and professional studies. We award the following degrees:
- Bachelor of Arts
- Bachelor of Business Administration
- Bachelor of Fine Arts
- Bachelor of Music
- Bachelor of Science
- Master of Arts
- Master of Arts in Teaching
- Master of Fine Arts
- Master of Music
- Master of Science
- Master of Science in Education
The college also offers Ph.D.-level courses through the City University of New York Graduate Center; a number of doctoral courses are also offered at Brooklyn College.
The college's Core Curriculum is aligned with CUNY's general education framework. It seeks to provide students with a well-rounded body of knowledge, a critical appreciation of diverse cultural and intellectual traditions, an interest in relating the past to the complex world in which students live today, and the ability to help society create a fresh and enlightened future. The framework allows students to explore knowledge from various perspectives and to develop their critical abilities to read, write, analyze, and use language and symbol systems effectively. It also develops students' intellectual curiosity and commitment to lifelong learning.
Divisions
Brooklyn College is structured into five schools:
- Murray Koppelman School of Business
- School of Education
- School of Humanities and Social Sciences
- School of Natural and Behavioral Sciences
- School of Visual, Media and Performing Arts
Student Enrollment
Total fall 2020 enrollment was 17,735. There were 14,969 undergraduate and 2,766 graduate students.
Student Diversity
Brooklyn College is a microcosm of the ethnically rich borough of Brooklyn it serves as well as a mirror of the wide diversity in New York City itself. A vibrant, intellectually engaged community, our student body comprises individuals from 142 countries, speaking 94 different languages, who share in the educational home our ample campus provides. Brooklyn College attracts bright, ambitious individuals and is particularly well suited to those who are eager to explore a wide range of academic disciplines.
Student Achievements and Activities
Brooklyn College students continue to receive recognition for their scholarly achievements.
Recent award winners include Nina Daro '20, Raquel Merino '21, and Salma Mohamed '21, Jeannette K. Watson Fellowships, which provide internships and mentoring to promising undergraduates; Jessica Khaimova '16 and Eri Nox '19 M.F.A., Fulbright Awards; Jake Levin '16 and Ryan Merola '07, Harry S. Truman Scholarship; Zujaja Tauqeer '10, Rhodes Scholarship; Ghulam Dastgir '08 and Alex Pyronneau '08, Jonas E. Salk Scholarships for medical study; and Christopher Browne '09 and Amy Iturres-Alomia '09, Gilman Awards for study abroad.
There are 120 academic, special interest, and social clubs at Brooklyn College; a student newspaper; and a student-run radio station, BCR, located at 1090 AM. The college participates in NCAA Division III athletics and offers an exciting and energetic intramurals sports program.
Facilities
The college comprises 16 buildings on a 35-acre, tree-lined campus. The Princeton Review consistently cites the college's "gorgeous" yet still urban campus as one of its major draws.
The Brooklyn College Library is the most technologically advanced in the City University of New York (CUNY) system. The library holds one million print materials and provides access to more than 669,000 electronic books and journals. The library's Woody Tanger Auditorium is a state-of-the-art facility capable of supporting video-conferencing and interactive meetings and workshops; a multimedia distribution system allows staff to broadcast high-quality streaming video throughout the building. The library also houses four computerized classrooms and a Faculty Training and Development Laboratory. The Morton and Angela Topfer Library Café is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week, for word processing, Internet access, data management, and quiet study.
On the West Quad, students will find a verdant quadrangle and a new campus building that houses student services and state-of-the-art physical education and athletic facilities under one roof. In 2018, the college completed construction of the $80 million Leonard & Claire Tow Center for the Performing Arts, which serves the Conservatory of Music, the Department of Theater, and related disciplines.
Faculty
The faculty of Brooklyn College teach, mentor, advise, and very often become students' best career counselors. In and out of the classroom, students get to know and work alongside leading academics, performers, scientists, and writers. As of fall 2020, we have 471 full-time and 769 part-time faculty members.
Prominent faculty members include: Obie Award–winning playwright Mac Wellman; world-renowned concert pianist Ursula Oppens; ASCAP Award–winning composer Tania León; computer theorist Rohit Parikh; audiologist Shlomo Silman; leading expert in microalgae biotechnology Juergen Polle; organometallic chemist and cancer researcher Maria Contel; political scientist and author Corey Robin; and award-winning author Helen Phillips.
National Accolades
In both 2019 and 2018, Forbes named Brooklyn College as one of the best-value colleges in the United States. In 2018 and 2017, The Chronicle of Higher Education ranked Brooklyn College among the top 10 four-year public U.S. colleges with the highest student-mobility rates. In 2018, the Princeton Review cited the college as one of the top colleges in New York State. The prior year, Money named Brooklyn College one of the top 50 colleges in the United States. In 2016, the Princeton Review named the college one of the best institutions in the country for undergraduate education in The Best 381 Colleges, and U.S. News & World Report ranked it among the top 25 public colleges in the United States and among the top 75 regional universities in the north. Prior to that, Forbes included Brooklyn College in its list of top 20 best-value colleges in the United States, and the Princeton Review included the college in its 332 Green Colleges (2014) and The Best Value Colleges (2012). Over the past decade, the college has also been named "best bang for the buck" college in the United States by Washington Monthly and received a four-star ranking for its academics in the Fiske Guide to Colleges.
Grants
In Fiscal Year 2020, the Brooklyn College Foundation granted more than $4.6 million to the college. This includes $2.3 million awarded to more than 2,000 students in the form of scholarships, awards, travel grants, internships, fellowships, and emergency grants; and more than $430,000 in the form of professorships, chairs, travel awards, lectureships, professional development support for faculty. This includes a significant number of emergency grants provided to students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Fiscal Year 2019–20, Brooklyn College received awards totaling $11.4 million to support research, training, program development, and institutional improvement. Among the federal/state/city agencies, corporations, and private foundations that have contributed support to the college are the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, New York City Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment, New York City Department of Education, New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, New York City Council, New York City Department of Small Business Services, New York State Department of Education, Pinkerton Foundation, U.S.-Israel Bi-National Science Foundation, New York City Office of the Mayor, Council on Library and Information Resources, Far Fund, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York Community Trust, Mouse Inc., Sunset Park Health Council, Indiana University, New York City Department of Human Resources, New York City Office of Children and Family Services, Accenture, Vital Projects Fund, St. Louis University, USDA Secretary for Natural Resources and the Environment, USDA Secretary for Research, Education and Economics, Institute for Education Services, and U.S. Department of Education Office of Post-Secondary Education..
Budget
The Fiscal Year 2021 base budget is $123,968,858.
Endowment
As of June 2020, the Brooklyn College Foundation has $96,697,817 under investment.
Accreditation
Brooklyn College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104; 267.284.5000; info@msche.org). Brooklyn College's academic programs are registered by the New York State Department of Education.
For more information on the college's MSCHE accreditation, visit the Office Institutional Effectiveness' Accreditation webpage.
For information on specialized accreditation by school, visit the Office of Institutional Effectiveness' Specialized Accreditation webpage.
Alumni
Around the world, 160,000 Brooklyn College alumni make a difference in a wide variety of fields, including the arts, law, politics, and the sciences. Three candidates for president of the United States were Brooklyn College alumni.
Motto
Nil sine magno labore: "Nothing without great effort."
