Seniors at Cooper Union College in New York City got a big surprise when they returned to classes Tuesday. The once free-tuition school is offering tuition-free tuition for about 200 graduating students in the class of 2025, a return to the 165-year-old East Village institution’s roots.
Accordingly New York PostThe grand gesture was made possible by nearly $6 million in grants pledged by three anonymous alumni, said Laura Sparks, the school’s former president. And as the school sets out to once again offer free tuition to all students, there is enough money to do the same for the next three graduating classes.
“Thanks to the generosity of three extraordinary alumni donors, we are eliminating a significant financial burden for our graduating classes and reaffirming the ideals that have been the foundation of this institution since Peter Cooper opened its doors in 1859,” Sparks said in a statement Tuesday.
Cooper Union continued to offer free tuition until the fall of 2014, when it began charging $19,500 to attend school after it ran up debt from a $175 million investment in an academic building. The financial blunder led to protests, a lawsuit, and even an investigation by the New York attorney general’s office. Now, a decade later, that cost has risen to $44,550, according to the university’s website.
In addition to free tuition for seniors, the school hopes to continue its free tuition model through the start of the 2028-29 academic year. Already, tuition is subsidized for most students, with about 900 out of 1,000 students receiving half-tuition scholarships of at least $22,275.
However, while tuition is free, it’s still not exactly cheap for students living on campus. In New York City, room and board costs alone are estimated to be around $25,000 per year.