The Literal "Big 3" - WGU, ASU and SNHU

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Some states formalize flagship university status. In 2022 New York Governor Kathy Hochul designated SUNY Stony Brook (on Long Island) and SUNY Buffalo as the flagship universities of the State University of New York system. Supporters of SUNY Albany and SUNY Binghamton (both in Central New York) called for them to be named flagship universities too. (Meanwhile, the City University of New York system is separately governed; City College of New York is considered that system's flagship.)

There is no hard definition of a flagship university, and some states can have multiple flagship universities. ASU has an enrolment of 75,000, nearly one billion in yearly research and strong athlete programs.

What is a Flagship Institution?
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-flag...jeff-doyle

"The best article on this topic was written by Brendan Cantwell (Michigan State U. higher education faculty) and W. Carson Byrd (U. of Michigan academic leader) in the Chronicle of Higher Education (2021) titled, “The ‘Flagship’ Folly - The nautical metaphor is a shoddy classifier of colleges — but a clear signal of higher ed’s obsession with status.”

Cantwell and Byrd conducted an analysis of “350 articles in 12 academic journals since 1980 that used the term “flagship” to refer to colleges. Of those, only 8% of all articles examined included any definition of what constitutes a flagship college.” And they continued, “None of the articles offered a clear and compelling definition of the term.” They concluded by saying that “flagship university is a confusing term, and those of us who work in higher ed should probably avoid it altogether unless we can settle on a clear definition of what it means.”"