Charter Amendments and Similar Authorizations
What requires charter amendment or similar authorizations?
The Regents incorporate independent, not-for-profit colleges and universities by issuing a charter. Each corporation the Regents create possesses the corporate powers that its charter specifies together with the powers the Education Law confers on all such corporations. More information about charters, including sample forms, is available through the Department's Office of Counsel.
An independent institution’s charter defines its legal authority with respect to the location and scope of its programs of study and the degree(s) it may award.
The following conditions require amendment of an institution’s charter:
- Initial authority to award degrees. The process by which an existing nondegree institution chartered by the Regents acquires degree-conferring power includes amendment of its charter. The process requires information beyond that required for program registration and master plan amendment approval for existing degree-granting institutions. For more information, consult our protocol for opening a college.
- New degree titles, including degrees at new levels. Most charters list the specific degree titles the institution may award. Adding a new degree title may require a charter amendment.
- Change of location or establishment of a branch campus. Charters specify an institution’s principal location and the additional locations at which it may operate. Therefore, moving the main campus to a location not authorized in the charter or establishing a branch campus in a location not authorized by the charter requires a charter amendment. (Establishment of a branch campus also needs approval of an amendment to the institution’s master plan.)
- Operation beyond limitations of the charter. In general, if an independent institution wishes to engage in an activity beyond limitations specified in its charter, it needs a charter amendment. This may include, but need not be limited to, extending its programs to a new level of study (e.g., a two-year college seeking baccalaureate powers) or expanding into fields not authorized by the charter (e.g., medicine or dentistry).
- Other actions not related to programs of study, such as changing the number of the institution’s trustees, also may require amendment of an independent institution’s charter.
Filing a Petition for a Charter Amendment
As described in the preceding section, proposals requiring registration action may require a related charter amendment. The institution should review its charter and, if necessary, file a petition for charter amendment with the Education Department's Office of Counsel:
Office of Counsel
State Education Department
Education Building - Room 116
Albany, New York 12234
The Department's Office of Counsel provides information about the procedure and fee for filing a petition for charter amendment. It is helpful if the institution submits the charter-related materials to the State Education Department's Office of Counsel at the same time that the proposal for registration action is submitted to the Office of College and University Evaluation. The process described should also be followed by an institution seeking a Regents charter for initial authority to award degrees.
Other Degree Authorizations for Public and Proprietary Colleges
Public and proprietary colleges and universities are not chartered by the Regents. They receive authorization to confer degrees as follows:
Public Colleges and Universities
The State University of New York and The City University of New
York and their campuses and community colleges exist by virtue
of provisions of Education
Law 
(see
Article 8 for SUNY, Article 125 for CUNY, and Article 126 for community
colleges). Section 355 of Education Law authorizes the State University
Trustees to confer all degrees they were authorized to award when it was
enacted (July 1, 1948) “and also such other degrees as the regents may
hereafter specifically authorize them to grant.” Section 6206 authorizes
the City University Trustees to confer the degrees that the New York City
municipal colleges awarded prior to April 16, 1926, “and also such other
degrees. . . as the regents thereafter specifically authorized or may
hereafter authorize them to grant.” For each system, the Regents authorize
use of additional degree titles campus-by-campus, on the request of the
system’s Board of Trustees.
Proprietary Colleges
Proprietary colleges are sole proprietorships, associations, partnerships,
or business corporations that operate for profit. They may offer
degrees only if the Regents grant them the authority to do so. Such authorization
is granted individually for each degree title (e.g., Associate
in Applied Science [A.A.S.]). Section 224 of Education
Law prohibits
the transfer of authority to a new owner without action by the Regents.
A proprietary college’s certificate
of incorporation with
the Department of State may also need to be amended in connection with
proposals to award new or additional degree titles, to change the location
of an existing campus or to establish a new branch campus, to change the
name of the college, or to conduct any activities beyond the limitations
expressed in the certificate of incorporation. Such amendments are, in
turn, submitted to the Department for the consent of
the Commissioner.