The Free Academy was established in 1847 to provide free higher education in the City of New York. In 1961, the City University of New York was established, incorporating the Free Academy and other units under the then Board of Higher Education.
Today the Board of Trustees is the governing entity for The City University of New York, the largest city university system in the world. CUNY is comprised of eleven senior colleges, of which York is one, six community colleges, a graduate school, a law school, a biomedical education school, and a new graduate school of journalism. More than 200,000 students are enrolled at campuses throughout the five boroughs of the City of New York.