Editing Cooper Union (section)

==Financial support==
[[File:Wikipedia Audio - Cooper Union (Financial Support).wav|thumb|Spoken Article – Cooper Union (Financial Support)]]
A substantial portion of the annual budget, which supports the full-tuition scholarships in addition to the school's costs, is generated through revenues from real estate. Its endowment is over $600 million.<ref name="nyt-2008-02-13">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/13/business/13cooper.html|title=Smart Land Deals as a Cornerstone of Free Tuition|first=Alison|last=Gregor|work=The New York Times|date=February 13, 2008}}</ref> The land under the [[Chrysler Building]] is owned by the endowment,<ref name="nyt-2008-02-13"/> and as of 2009, Cooper Union received $7 million per year from this parcel. Further, under a very unusual arrangement, New York City real-estate taxes assessed against the Chrysler lease, held by [[Aby Rosen]],<ref name="Financial Times">{{cite news |url=https://www.ft.com/content/399a6c9c-70d1-11e9-bbfb-5c68069fbd15 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20221210/https://www.ft.com/content/399a6c9c-70d1-11e9-bbfb-5c68069fbd15 |archive-date=December 10, 2022 |url-access=subscription|title=What does property mogul Aby Rosen see in the Chrysler building?|newspaper=Financial Times|date=May 10, 2019|last1=Chaffin|first1=Joshua}}</ref> are paid to Cooper Union, not the city. This arrangement would be voided if Cooper Union sold the real estate. In 2006, Tishman Speyer signed a deal with the school to pay rent that has escalated to $32.5 million in 2018.<ref name="wsj-2009-06-30"/>

===Financial crisis and tuition controversy===
{{see also|Cooper Union financial crisis and tuition protests}}

Around October 29, 2011, rumors circulated the school was in serious financial trouble. On October 31, a series of open forums were held with students, faculty, and alumni to address a financial crisis.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/nyregion/cooper-union-may-charge-tuition-to-undergraduates.html |url-access=subscription |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111102103725/http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/01/education/cooper-union-may-charge-tuition-to-undergraduates.html?hpw=&pagewanted=all |archive-date=November 2, 2011|work=[[The New York Times]]|title=Cooper Union, Long Free but in Financial Distress, Looks at Charging Tuition (Cooper Union Looks at Charging Tuition) |first=Richard |last=Pérez-Peña |author-link=Richard Pérez-Peña |date=October 31, 2011 |access-date=October 31, 2011}}</ref>

Current and past students voiced opposition to charging tuition.<ref>{{cite web |title=Free Cooper Union |url=https://cusos.org/ |publisher=Free Cooper Union |access-date=21 December 2020}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=News Archive of the Cooper Pioneer |url=http://www.notnicemusic.com/Cassandra/cooper_news_archive.html |website=The Cooper Union Alumni Pioneer |publisher=Barry Drogin |access-date=21 December 2020}}</ref> The then-president of the school, [[Jamshed Bharucha]], indicated depletion of the school's endowment required additional sources of funding. In 2012, the college announced approval from its board of trustees to attempt to establish a new tuition-based cross-disciplinary graduate program, expand its fee-based continuing education programs, and impose tuition on some students in its existing graduate programs.<ref name="Graduate Students">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/25/nyregion/cooper-union-will-charge-tuition-for-graduate-students.html|work=The New York Times|title=Cooper Union Will Charge Tuition for Graduate Students|first=Richard|last=Pérez-Peña|author-link=Richard Pérez-Peña|date=April 24, 2012|access-date=June 15, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702303592404577364434200598276|work=The Wall Street Journal|title=Cooper Union to Charge|first=Lisa|last=Fleisher|date=April 24, 2012|access-date=April 24, 2012}}</ref>

In December 2012, as a protest against the possibility of undergraduate tuition being charged, 11 students occupied a suite<ref>Kaminer, Ariel. [https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/nyregion/cooper-union-protesters-living-high-life-out-of-presidents-office.html "Tuition Protesters Still in Top Office at Cooper Union"] ''The New York Times'' (May 24, 2013)</ref> in the Foundation Building for a week.<ref>Moynihan, Colin. [http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/cooper-union-students-end-occupation-of-suite-after-a-week/ "Cooper Union Students End Occupation of Suite After a Week"] ''The New York Times'' (December 10, 2012)</ref> Charging high tuition was complicated by the school's lack of customary amenities offered by other high-tuition schools.<ref name=NYT021513>{{cite news|title=Cooper Union's Free Tuition Tradition May Be Near Its End|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/nyregion/cooper-unions-tradition-of-free-tuition-may-be-near-end.html|access-date=February 16, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=February 15, 2013|author=Ariel Kramer}}</ref>

The college ended its free tuition policy for undergraduates in 2014, but offers need-based tuition remission to incoming undergraduates on a [[sliding scale]].<ref name="Kaminer">{{cite news|last=Kaminer|first=Ariel|title=College Ends Free Tuition, and an Era|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/24/nyregion/cooper-union-to-charge-undergraduates-tuition.html?pagewanted=all|access-date=May 26, 2013|newspaper=The New York Times|date=April 23, 2013}}</ref> On May 8, 2013, a group of students occupied President Bharucha's office in protest over news reports about ending free tuition. The administration, board of trustees, and those members of the Cooper Union community who had been occupying the Office of the President since early May reached an agreement that ended the occupation on July 12.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cooper.edu/about/news/occupation-presidents-office-ends|title=Occupation of President's Office Ends|work=cooper.edu|access-date=September 13, 2015}}</ref>

Throughout 2013, 2014, and 2015, the committee to Save Cooper Union (CSCU) — a coalition of former and current students, alumni and faculty — campaigned to reverse this decision, urging the president and the board of trustees to return Cooper Union to "its tuition-free and merit-based mission, ensure the school’s fiscal recovery, and establish better governance structures."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://savecooperunion.org/updates/a_second_chance_for_cooper_union.php|title=A Second Chance For Cooper Union|website=Committee to Save Cooper Union}}</ref>

On September 1, 2015, the school and the CSCU announced the CSCU's lawsuit against the school's administration was resolved in the form of a [[consent decree]] signed by Cooper Union, then-New York State's [[United States Attorney General|Attorney General]] [[Eric Schneiderman]], and the CSCU. The decree includes provisions for returning to a sustainable, tuition-free policy, increased board transparency, additional student, faculty and alumni trustees, an independent financial monitor appointed by the Attorney General, and a search committee to identify the next full-term president.<ref name=nyt-lawsuit-resolved>{{cite news|last1=Bagli|first1=Charles|title=New York Attorney General Reaches Deal to End Litigation at Cooper Union|work=The New York Times |date=September 2, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/02/nyregion/new-york-attorney-general-crafts-deal-to-end-litigation-at-cooper-union.html?_r=0|access-date=September 2, 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title = The Committee to Save Cooper Union|url = http://savecooperunion.org|website = savecooperunion.org|access-date = September 2, 2015}}</ref><ref>Staff. [http://diverseeducation.com/article/77609/ "New York Reaches Deal with Cooper Union, Plaintiffs"] ''Diverse: Issues in Higher Education'' (September 2, 2015)</ref>

On January 15, 2018, the Free Education Committee (FEC) of the school's Board of Trustees released their recommended plan to return to full-tuition scholarships for undergraduates only by the academic year starting in the fall of 2028.<ref>{{cite web|date=January 15, 2018|url=https://cooper.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/assets/site/files/2018/FEC_Report_Jan18.pdf|title=Recommended Plan to Return to Full-Tuition Scholarships}}</ref> In March 2018, the board released its approved, updated version with the same milestone.<ref>{{cite web|date=June 2018|url=https://cooper.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/assets/site/files/2018/PlantoFree_sprds.pdf|title=The Cooper Union Plan to Return to Full-Tuition Scholarships }}</ref> In 2024, the school announced that approximately 83% of undergraduate tuition costs would be covered by scholarships in the 2024–2025 academic year and that they were proceeding as planned towards their goal of 100% coverage in the 2029 fiscal year.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Cooper Union Board of Trustees |url=https://cooper.edu/sites/default/files/uploads/assets/site/files/2024/PlanAtFiveYearReport.pdf |title=THE PLAN AT FIVE YEARS: RETURNING TO FULL-TUITION SCHOLARSHIP |date=June 2024 |publisher=The Cooper Union}}</ref>