LaGuardia leads CUNY community colleges in STEM graduates

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LaGuardia Community College prepares more students for STEM than any other CUNY, a new report found. Photo courtesy of LaGuardia Community College

LaGuardia Community College prepares more students for STEM than any other CUNY, a new report found. Photo courtesy of LaGuardia Community College

By Rachel Vick

LaGuardia Community College leads the pack with more graduates with STEM degrees than any other CUNY two-year school, according to a new report from Center for an Urban Future.

Nearly 20 percent of the Long Island City-based school's graduates enter science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields, according to the report.

“With STEM jobs growing in NYC and throughout the U.S., the fact that we are graduating so many of tomorrow’s STEM workforce not only meets what employers need by expanding the pool of well-trained STEM graduates,” said LaGuardia Community College President Kenneth Adams. “Our students are able to secure financially rewarding jobs that enable them to provide for themselves and their families.”

The school has seen the fastest growth in the number of graduates in the field among programs with at least 100 annual STEM graduates, increasing 76 percent since the 2015-2016 school year, the report found.

Almost a quarter of students at LaGuardia go on to pursue competitive STEM majors like biology and computer science, and onto further degree programs, according to the school.

Graduate Christian Brady-Alvarez left with an associate degree in electrical engineering and went on to work for a Virginia-based aerospace and defense company. 

“The return-on-investment is incalculable,” Brady-Alvarez said of his time at LaGuardia.

Despite overall growth in accessibility and diversity, gaps in progress remain, the report shows.

Though Hispanic women make up 18 percent of the CUNY student body, they received just 7 percent of all STEM degrees and 4 percent of degrees in technology — the least of any demographic enrolled.

“The number of STEM degrees granted by CUNY colleges has grown tremendously in recent years, with major gains for Black and Hispanic students and women,” wrote report authors Charles Shaviro, Laird Gallagher, and Eli Dvorkin. 

“Today, CUNY is graduating nearly 10,000 students annually with STEM degrees — a major milestone for the city’s higher education system and an indicator that thousands more New Yorkers from lower-income backgrounds are being prepared for the jobs and industries that are poised to lead the city’s economic recovery,” they added.