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Deferral Policy

Cooper Union Deferral Policy

Undergraduate admitted students may request to defer their offer of admission for one year. Each deferral request will be reviewed by the Office of Admissions and considered on a case-by-case basis. 

Submission of a deferral request does not mean that your deferral request has been approved. You will receive a follow-up email regarding the approval or denial of your request once it has been thoroughly reviewed.

The Cooper Union considers the totality of the class in each program when admitting students. The class size and collaborative nature of the pedagogy demands this type of nuanced calculation. For that reason, deferral requests are carefully reviewed.

Considerations: 

  • Students may not defer in order to matriculate at another degree-granting college or university with the intention of receiving credit or maintaining their deferred status at The Cooper Union—if you choose to pursue college-level coursework, your deferral will be forfeited. However, the following year you may reapply as a transfer student and all new coursework will be considered.
  • Undergraduate admitted students whose deferral requests are approved must pay their nonrefundable enrollment deposit. 
  • A student's admission will not be officially deferred until the enrollment deposit is received.
  • A student’s award package may not remain the same and will be recalculated when the financial aid application is resubmitted.  
  • We do not accept deferral requests for the Master of Science in Architecture or the Master of Engineering programs.

Submit all requests to admissions@cooper.edu. 

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.