Thomas Edison State University to Harvard Law

SUNY is an umbrella term encompassing a large number of schools. You can't get a degree from "SUNY." You can get a degree from SUNY at Buffalo or SUNY at Oswego. More and more, however, the individual schools are branding themselves independent of SUNY. SUNY at Binghamton now bills itself as Binghamton University. The less money they receive from the state, the less they feel compelled to wear the state's logos. Absolutely no one in New York says "I went to SUNY." It doesn't happen. And if they did say that it would be a major red flag that they were full of crap. People will say "I went to Binghamton" or "I went to SUNY Albany" or the like. It's one of the reasons why I feel that the SUNY aspect of Empire State College really loses its impact anywhere other than writing it on a resume (or a LinkedIn profile).

USNY is not odd at all. The New York Board of Regents, aside from being a recognized accreditor, also has the authority to award degrees. But New York also says that only a college or university (and only university for degrees above the associates level) approved by BOR can award degrees. So, when the BOR awards a degree it is awarded by USNY.

As I've said previously, I used to regularly see a doctor who had received his MD from the Board of Regents though this program. His diploma, proudly displayed in his office, also had USNY emblazoned across the top.

This is also a state where almost all licensed professions receive their licenses from the New York Department of Education (Medicine, Chiropractic, Psychology, Accounting, Acupuncture, Architecture, Nursing, Social Work, Massage Therapists etc). So in the state you just get used to seeing certain things. You get used to seeing a NY Dept of Ed certificate in a doctor's office. Out of staters tend to think this is odd as they would expect Ed to only license teachers or maybe some allied professions.

I will also say that there are a handful of lesser known SUNY schools (SUNY-ESF is one which frequently confuses people as most folks assume it is part of Syracuse University). The inclusion of "SUNY" in the name certainly tells people it is a real, and legitimate, school. But it doesn't really elevate the school's reputation in the eyes of the public as some people on this board seem to think it would.