While putting together my last article (GeoSpatial Student Spotlight), I came across a related article that’s worth a quick mention. In the same academic space, it is an article by the online site Affordable Schools which is essentially a clearinghouse of sorts, inventorying and ranking schools on a wide range of academic programs and professional fields on three core metrics: Cost (affordability), class size (student-to-faculty ratio) and student success (graduation rate). The report is entitled: “30 Best Affordable Geographic Information Science and Cartography Degree Programs (Bachelor’s) 2020”.
Albeit not in the same conversation as the more esteemed college ranking reports by Forbes, U.S. News and Word Report, or Niche, the Affordable Schools evaluation approach is relatively simple in how data is collected/evaluated and from what sources. And yes, the bottom line focusing on affordability. Best yet, it paints an outstanding picture of affordable traditional geographic information science/system (GIS) bachelor degrees in New York State when compared against the field across the United States. Interesting results with four New York State schools in the top thirty with three in the top ten. All are SUNY schools which speaks volumes to the affordability of higher education opportunities in this space across the Empire State.
Points for ranking the schools and their affiliated geographic information science/system programs were allocated in the following manner:
Those schools in New York State identified in the “30 Best Affordable Geographic Information Science and Cartography Degree Programs” (2020) include:
#30 Farmingdale State College
Farmingdale, NY 11735
Points: 6
#6 SUNY Cortland
Cortland, NY 13045
Points: 7
#3 University of Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260
Points: 8
#2 SUNY College at Potsdam
Potsdam, NY 13676
Points: 8
Potsdam and Buffalo ending up with the same point total but Potsdam most likely getting the slight higher ranking due to a slightly lower in-state tuition fee and Buffalo having a much higher out-of-state tuition price tag. While University of Buffalo has been a mainstay on the Empire State higher education geographic information science/system stage for over three decades – the Farmingdale, Cortland and Potsdam programs are of more recent development. The University of Buffalo is one of the three original universities associated with the The National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) formed in 1988.
Again, the caveat here is that this is 2020 data and for traditional, on-campus bachelor degree programs – which almost seems like an oxymoron in July 2021. So while there may be some resemblance to a “return to campus” in the years ahead, the COVID pandemic has most probably changed the delivery of higher education classes and programs to some extent for good. And with it, creating more educational opportunities, all levels, in the online environment. For 2020 affordable online bachelor geospatial programs, there is the OnlineU website though only with ten schools identified and none within New York State. Though the good news with online opportunities is that there is a growing acceptance and presence across the Empire State in certificate programs and perhaps even the availability of an online Associate Degree in the future. Such discussion will be the subject of a future eSpatiallyNewYork blog post.
Of course the programs itemized above are not the only schools in the state which offer bachelor programs in geography information science/systems, geography, and related technologies. Four-year, masters and PhD programs are available at universities in the New York City as well as other SUNY campuses which can be identified by using the SUNY “Find Your Major” search widget here.
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