The Board of Trustees at Cooper Union announced in a campus notice last week that the entering class of 2013 will be admitted on a full-tuition scholarship.
Cooper Union, a historically tuition free institution, has been struggling economically for over a year and has been tiptoeing around the decision of charging tuition. Finally, the Board of Trustees released a memo via email clarifying that tuition would remain free for incoming freshmen, but did not say if this will remain the case in future years.
The email did not disclose how the board plans to deal with fiscal issues, or whether the board has approved President Jamshed Bharucha’s proposed budget plan.
“I think this decision [to not charge tuition in the near future] was super political and coerced,” said Cooper Union student Victoria Sobel. “The memo is completely insufficient. The board has not even tried to reassure future applicants that this won’t happen again.”
The Board of Trustees released the memo after an undisclosed meeting. Students from all three divisions of Cooper Union sat on the grand staircase of the Academic Building for a silent rally to express their discontent with the continued lack of transparency.
“There’s a lack of trust,” a student said at Cooper Union’s community board meeting on March 1. “People do not donate to this school because they do not trust the leadership and the direction it has been going.”
Although the graduating class of 2017 remains tuition free, Cooper Union’s financial future still remains unclear.
Francia is currently a Culture & Media major student about to graduate. She hopes to write for a cheesy sitcom or television series one day. Her hobbies include binge watching shows on Netflix and drinking wine.
