(SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - March 18, 2015) Military Times magazine, a Gannett publication, has included SUNY Empire State College’s School for Graduate Studies MBA program among its “Best for Vets: Business Schools 2015.”

The college’s MBA program has been included each year in the Best for Vets Business Schools category since Military Times began publishing its list three years ago.

This honor noted several specific features of the college and its MBA program, including:

• low in-state graduate tuition and the waiving of most fees for veterans and active-duty military
• an overall culture supportive of veterans and members of the military
• award-winning Office of Veteran and Military Education
• academic support

• acceptance of academic credit for military training recommended by the American Council on Education.

“Veteran students and those students on active duty have specific needs in terms of support and the flexibility to learn where and when it suits their lives,” said Merodie A. Hancock, president of the college. “The college’s veteran and military students are frequently adults with families. They learn differently than an 18-year-old high school graduate. SUNY Empire’s 40-year record of success with adult and nontraditional students and the quality of the MBA program is reflected by Military Times’ Best for Vets annual surveys.”

Military Times’ story, methodology and the complete list of those institutions selected for this honor are available here.

In addition to strengths listed by Military Times, the college supports veterans and members of the military community through:

• education partnerships with all branches of the military
• Credit Where Credit is Due: Veteran and Service Member Pathway to the MBA
• Graduate Certificate in Veterans Services
• Student Veterans and Military Club.

About SUNY Empire State College

Empire State College, the nontraditional, open college of the SUNY system, educates more than 20,000 students worldwide at eight international sites, more than 35 locations in the state of New York, online, as well as face to face and through a blend of both, at the associate, bachelor’s and master’s levels.

The average age of an undergraduate student at the college is 35 and graduate students’ average age is 40.

Most Empire State College students are working adults. Many are raising families and meeting civic commitments in the communities where they live, while studying part time.

In addition to awarding credit for prior college-level learning, the college pairs each undergraduate student with a faculty mentor who supports that student throughout his or her college career.

Working with their mentors, students design an individual degree program and engage in guided independent study and course work onsite, online, or through a combination of both, which provides the flexibility for students to choose where, when and how to learn.

Students have the opportunity to enroll five times during the year.

The college’s 73,000 alumni are active in their communities as entrepreneurs, politicians, business professionals, artists, nonprofit agency employees, teachers, veterans and active military, union members and more.

The college was first established in 1971 by the SUNY Board of Trustees with the encouragement of the late Ernest L. Boyer, chancellor of the SUNY system from 1970 to 1977.

Boyer also served as United States commissioner of education during the administration of President Jimmy Carter and then as president of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

More information about the college is available at www.esc.edu.

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Media contact: David Henahan, director of communications

518-587-2100, ext. 2918

David.Henahan@esc.edu

518-321-7038 (after hours and on weekends)