 FACT: Throughout the movie, Evan repeatedly refers to his college as  "State," however, the story takes place in upstate NY. There is no  single New York State University, rather, a large system of state  schools called SUNY schools. None of the SUNY schools are referred  to as "State," and if one attended a SUNY school, they would never  refer to it as "State." Each is treated as a completely separate  college.