Students at the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art (CU) in New York City received an unexpected but welcome surprise on the first day of classes yesterday, September 4, when the school announced that tuition will be free for all graduating seniors over the next four years.
The news comes a decade after the historically free private university began charging students tuition, resulting in numerous student-led protests, a state attorney general investigation into CU’s finances, multiple board member resignations, and a collective lawsuit against school administrators.
As part of a plan to restore full-tuition scholarships for undergraduates by the 2025–2026 academic year, school administrators will refund current seniors for any payments they have already submitted for the fall semester, according to yesterday’s announcement. In the spring, graduating seniors will not be required to submit payments. Additionally, all current first-, second-, and third-year students will receive full-tuition scholarships their senior year.
The free tuition is made possible by donations from three alumni including two engineering graduates, George Reeves (’64) and John Manuck (’69), and one anonymous individual. Together, the three donors committed nearly $6 million to the school’s “Until All Are Free” fund this past summer, adding to previous gifts made in recent years.
“Obviously this is a fantastic start, but I’m looking forward to the day when there is no tuition,” Toby Cumberbatch, a retired CU faculty member who is part of the Committee to Save Cooper Union group, told Hyperallergic. In 2014, the group of alumni and admitted students sued CU’s board of trustees for alleged fiscal mismanagement, citing costly purchases like the new academic building at 41 Cooper Square despite a lack of sufficient funding.
Mauricio Perdomo-Doncel, a current third-year student involved with CU’s Students for Justice in Palestine group, told Hyperallergic that he also still has “mixed feelings” about the news, arguing that the efforts of students and advocates over the years are being “co-opted by the institution.”
“You have the administration telling us it’s the donors, it’s the Board of Trustees, it’s the President who got us back here, when actually it was direct action, it was lock-ins, it was occupations,” Perdomo-Doncel said, adding that the school’s dependency on donor contributions is still “not a very sustainable model.”
Another student, a senior engineering major who spoke to Hyperallergic on the condition of anonymity, also said that she was “really shocked” by the announcement, especially after spending the summer appealing to the school for increased financial aid. She also still has questions about the school’s financial situation.
“What happens when this money runs out? And what are [school leaders] doing to handle this mismanagement?’” she said, adding that the news has not distracted her from scrutinizing the administration’s recent decisions, such as its increased campus surveillance amid student protests for Gaza.
At the end of last year, the rift between students and administrators peaked when outgoing president Laura Sparks implemented highly criticized protocols for the End of Year Show, leading students to host the exhibition off-campus in the Lower East Side’s Clemente Soto Vélez Cultural and Educational Center.
“Even though this money benefits me, it doesn’t stop me from thinking about all that the school has done to censor its students,” the student said.
