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The Cooper Union is starting to bring back free tuition

2024-09-03T17:02:00-04:00

In a surprising move, The Cooper Union has announced a return to tuition-free education for all undergraduate seniors within each of the next four years starting with its Class of 2025. The reversal comes ten years after school trustees formally voted to do away with its free mandate for the first time as a result of financial strain. The New York Times was first to report on the announcement, which follows a $6 million grant from three Cooper alumni.

The Cooper Union says it is on track to be free to all students by the 2028-29 academic year. Current costs for undergraduates hover at $44,550. However, the school is prioritizing the ten-year plan. Current first-, second-, and third-year students will receive full-tuition scholarships in their senior years under it. In a statement, outgoing President Laura Sparks said progress on the issue "[reaffirms] the ideals that have been foundational to this institution since Peter Cooper opened its doors in 1859."

Previously on Archinect: Coo...

Cooper Union to return to tuition-free model

2015-09-02T13:25:00-04:00

The Committee to Save Cooper Union (CSCU) has successfully convinced Cooper Union's Board of Trustees to reconsider their decision to charge tuition to ease the institution's financial crisis, a move that would have upended a 150-year tradition of free scholarships. Along with Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman of the New York Attorney General's Office and the CSCU, Cooper Union signed a Consent Decree that will, in the words of the CSCU, "enable Cooper Union to find a practical path back to its full scholarship model; give alumni, students, faculty, and staff a powerful role in Cooper’s governance; institute strict oversight of the school’s progress toward its goals; spur a serious effort to balance its budget; and reform its governance." The CSCU has correspondingly settled its lawsuit against Cooper Union.

The Attorney General's Office has also filed a cy pres petition, which attributes the Attorney General's intervention in the matter to a need "to safeguard Peter Cooper's irr...