new york (WPIX) — Cooper Union, a private university in lower Manhattan, announced Tuesday that it will not pay any tuition for its final year of students.
The announcement came as a complete surprise to students at NYU, who said that outgoing president Laura Sparks announced the news at the commencement ceremony.
The scholarship was made possible by a group of alumni who have already donated millions of dollars over the past few years, donating a total of nearly $6 million.
It's not just current fourth-year students who will benefit: for the next four years, tuition fees for all graduating fourth-year students will be fully covered by the scholarship.
Current upperclassmen will first receive funds from Cooper Union to pay for fall semester tuition, but will not be required to pay spring semester tuition. The scholarship will cover tuition for the upperclassmen, sophomores and juniors currently enrolled at the school.
Prior to 2014, Cooper Union (officially known as the Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science, Arts and Sciences) offered free tuition to all students, but in 2014, the school opted to require students to pay a portion of their tuition “for the first time in its history in order to address a structural budget deficit.” News Release It was posted on the school's website.
In 2018, the school announced a 10-year plan to again reduce tuition fees for students.
“The response to our plans and the commitment from Cooper Union alumni and New York City donors has been incredible,” Sparks said in a news release. “Thanks to three incredible alumni donors, we are able to lift a significant financial burden for our alumni and reaffirm the ideals that have been the foundation of this institution since Peter Cooper opened its doors in 1859.”
Currently, more than half of the school's students are already on full scholarships, and undergraduates pay less than 15% of the school's tuition, on average, according to Cooper Union.
