10 YEAR PLAN TO RETURN TO FREE

10-year-plan

 

In 2018, The Cooper Union Board of Trustees approved a 10-year Plan to Return to Full-Tuition Scholarships. It was a historic and ambitious moment. To provide full-tuition scholarships for all undergraduate students, the Plan called for $250 million of new investments in The Cooper Union.  

We are excited to report that our progress is overwhelmingly positive and on track. We are:  

  • achieving steady financial gains  
  • investing in our academic programs  
  • making capital improvements to our facilities  
  • holding tuition flat for the seventh, consecutive year, and  
  • increasing scholarship levels according to the Plan  

As of October 2025, on average, 89% of tuition costs are covered for undergraduates; and 57% of students attend The Cooper Union tuition-free. For the latest numbers on tuition, please view this page updated by Student Financial Services.  

The work we are doing together to make this 10-Year Plan a reality is unlike that of any other college or university in the country. Not only will we restore the legacy of The Cooper Union as a free center of learning, we are also doing our part to address the national crisis of staggering student debt and demonstrating that a different way forward is possible.  

Your support is essential to our students. Please give today.  

Every gift supports the next generation of innovators, creators and leaders.

  • 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.