Baruch College is a public senior college in the City University of New York system, occupying a compact urban campus in the Flatiron/Gramercy district of Manhattan. Anchored by the Zicklin School of Business — the largest AACSB-accredited business school in the country — Baruch is the city's undisputed Wall Street pipeline among publics, with a diverse, commuter-heavy student body consistently ranked among the nation's best for economic mobility and return on investment. Students pay CUNY tuition (roughly $7,500 per year in-state) for a business education that places graduates into finance, accounting, and consulting roles alongside peers from schools costing ten times more.
Mascot: Bearcat
Notable Alumni
Bernard Baruch (financier, statesman, and namesake of the college)•Abraham Beame (105th Mayor of New York City)•Sidney Harman (founder of Harman International)
At a Glance
Cost
Published sticker prices for 2025-2026. Actual cost after aid varies.
Top Programs & National Ranking
Approximate national ranking based on departmental rankings, research output, and program reputation.
Highlights
Athletics
Campus Experience
Baruch is a commuter school in the fullest sense — most students ride the subway in from Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Staten Island, and New Jersey, go to class, and head home. There's no quad, no tailgates, barely a whisper of Greek life. What you get instead is a hyper-diverse, hyper-ambitious, hustle-forward student body where Wall Street Club meetings, case competitions, and finance recruiting events fill the social calendar. Students either love the all-business, no-distraction energy or find it isolating — the line runs right down the middle.
The campus is a compact cluster of three buildings on a single Manhattan block: the historic 1929 Gothic 17 Lexington Avenue (the Lawrence and Eris Field Building, known as '17 Lex'), the modern 17-story Newman Vertical Campus on 25th Street, and the Administrative Center at 135 East 22nd. No quad, no green space — the Vertical Campus's atrium and the Field Building's grand Gothic interiors carry the aesthetic load.
Based on Niche reviews, Princeton Review surveys, student forums, and institutional data.
Safety
Baruch's Department of Public Safety staffs all three academic buildings 24/7 with ID checkpoints at every entrance. As a non-residential urban campus in a busy commercial district, reported incidents are almost entirely property crimes — stolen phones, laptops left unattended in the library — rather than violent offenses.
The Flatiron/Gramercy Park area surrounding 23rd–25th and Lexington is one of Manhattan's safer, well-trafficked commercial districts with 24-hour foot traffic, though standard NYC vigilance around pickpocketing and subway platforms applies.
Based on Clery Act data, student surveys, and local crime statistics.
Plan Your Visit
Schedule: Weekdays during the academic year; select Saturdays for open house events
Duration: ~90 minutes (info session + student-led tour of the three main buildings)
Tours depart from the Admissions Welcome Center at 151 East 25th Street. Pre-registration required. Open House events in the fall include academic department panels and financial aid sessions.
Book a TourThe campus is a walkable Manhattan block — anyone can explore the public entrances of the Newman Vertical Campus and the 17 Lexington lobby during business hours with photo ID. A virtual tour is also available online.
Tour ResourcesOctober through mid-November or March through April when classes are in full swing and the Vertical Campus atrium is at maximum energy. Weekdays between 10am and 3pm capture the campus at its liveliest. Avoid mid-December through January and summer when the commuter campus thins to near-empty.
No campus parking — this is midtown Manhattan. Commercial garages on 23rd, 24th, and 25th Streets run $40-60/day. Subway: 6 train to 23rd Street (Lexington) drops you at the front door; N/R/W to 23rd-Broadway is a 5-minute walk. PATH to 23rd Street connects from NJ. Metro-North from Westchester/Connecticut and LIRR from Long Island arrive at Grand Central (10-minute subway or 15-minute walk south). All three NYC airports connect via transit: LGA ~45 min, JFK ~60 min via AirTrain + subway, EWR ~50 min via PATH.
Location
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