Judge asked to stop free NY college's tuition plan

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Judge asked to stop free NY college's tuition plan
By JENNIFER PELTZ, Associated Press | August 15, 2014 | Updated: August 15, 2014 2:45pm

NEW YORK (AP) — Students and faculty at one of the nation's few free colleges asked a judge Friday to block the school's plan to start charging undergraduate tuition, a move the school calls a financial necessity but opponents say will alter the culture of a storied institution.

With the first set of Cooper Union tuition bills already coming due, the fight is "about the whole foundation of the school," incoming freshman Claire Kleinman said outside Friday's hearing on a lawsuit she and other students, alumni and professors brought to try to keep the school free.

Kleinman, an 18-year-old from Manhattan, will be able to enroll regardless of the outcome, but the intended art major worries that tuition of up to $20,000 a year could introduce debt worries into an academic climate in which students have been unusually free of financial burdens.

"It creates a community that's really strong," she said. "I'm afraid that community could change."

Cooper trustees say they are concerned about its financial future. With operating-fund deficits ranging from $13 million to $23 million in the last four years, "dire financial realities required us to make tough decisions to preserve Cooper for future generations," spokesman Justin Harmon said in a statement. "The long-term survival of The Cooper Union was dependent on making this difficult change."

Counting about 1,000 undergraduates, the 155-year-old school founded by industrialist Peter Cooper is renowned for its architecture, arts and engineering programs and its own history. Abraham Lincoln gave his famous "right makes might" anti-slavery speech there in 1860, the NAACP held its first public meeting there in 1909, and it provided a platform for leaders of the labor movement. Alumni include Thomas Edison, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Russell Hulse, and Daniel Libeskind, the architect who designed the master plan for the rebuilt World Trade Center.

Read more: http://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Judge-asked-to-stop-free-NY-college-s-tuition-plan-5691001.php

[geretogo]

1. Investing tax money in education has got to stop . The Oligarchs need that money to buy our

elections and our government . The students can become indentured servants to the banks .

[George II]

2. I hope the lawsuit succeeds.....

....when I was accepted to Cooper Union in 1967 my total annual cost was $200 ($100 registration fee per semester) At the tuition rate they're looking for, even in 1967 dollars, I would never have been able attend college.

As Peter Cooper said when he founded his school, "anyone good enough to attend my school should not have to worry about paying for it." ****

**** probably different words, but the gist is there.

[redwitch]

3. Hubby is also a Cooper graduate who couldn't have afforded tuition. nt

[whistler162]

4. Sound like they need to appeal to the alumni to help

bolster the schools endowment.

[aggiesal]

5. This is our tax breaks at work. n/t