Albany colleges working to support Saint Rose students

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) -- Colleges in the Albany area are seeing an influx of calls from students at The College of Saint Rose who are determining where to continue their college education. That influx led to informational sessions and increased admissions counseling at Russell Sage and UAlbany.

“Colleges have transfers all the time but in that time of crisis you just want to be able to provide consistent information for them as well," Katie Cooney Lesko, VP for Enrollment Management at Russell Sage said.

The college is holding multiple information sessions for students interested in transferring.

“We’ve got dedicated transfer appointments that we’ve set up where a student can come in and speak to our admissions staff, by extension talk to academic advisors, financial aid staff, about what their trajectory to UAlbany would look like," Mike Christakis, VP for Student Affairs at UAlbany, said.

Both schools are making their transfer process flexible to accommodate students at Saint Rose. Russell Sage is still accepting transfer students for the spring semester, and will accept Fall 2024 transfers through August 2024. UAlbany offers application fee waivers and expedited transfer applications on a rolling basis.

Other colleges are also opening a path to transfer, including Hudson Valley Community College and Siena College. A spokesperson for Siena College said:

"Siena College is committed to working with the College of St. Rose community during this time of transition. We are currently developing the details of a comprehensive support plan for St. Rose students that we plan to finalize in the coming days."

Cooney Lesko said they're hoping to keep students in the area and help them find a home in similar programs like teaching, nursing and criminal justice.

“It matters to me that we keep the students local and so to have the colleges in the Capital Region be able to offer those programs, the students are still going to be teaching in the school systems," Cooney Lesko said. "They’re going to be able to be in law enforcement in the community and they’re going to be able to continue working on their health studies.” 

Both UAlbany and Russell Sage have facilitated teach out programs in the past and said they're prepared to do it again should they be involved in Saint Rose's official program.

“I know it’s probably difficult to see all of the options right now but I think we are, and others, are committed to helping each student find where the best landing place is for them," Christakis said.