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Cooper’s administration downplays the impact of tuition
In a recent New York Times Op-Ed piece, Cooper Union’s President, Jamshed Bharucha, deceptively announced his overall satisfaction that Cooper Union remained among the “Best Value” colleges in the United States. Bharucha backed this sentiment by citing a few irrelevant statistics about the accepted Class of 2018, claiming — implausibly— that charging tuition will improve a college whose humanistic mission has provided full-tuition scholarships to all admitted students for over 150 years.
Bharucha along with Cooper’s Office of Admissions have been heading a revisionist effort to misdirect the community and the public on the truth about the impact that charging tuition will have on admissions and the incoming Class of 2018. Bharucha touts that, “Once again, the best-of-the-best have applied and been admitted to The Cooper Union.” The administration refuses to acknowledge that for the first time in Cooper’s history these accepted students are turning down their acceptances to Cooper en masse. From recruitment to acceptance, the administration has been downplaying the impact that charging tuition will have on the students who apply to and ultimately attend Cooper Union.
Families grapple with an expensive decision
Prospective and accepted students and their families have been forced grapple with the fact that despite its historically progressive mission and programs, Cooper is currently being run by an administration that has used applicants as collateral against faculty, is estranged from the community, and continues to consolidate decision-making power.
The administration’s expansionist strategy is what landed Cooper Union in a cultural and financial crisisto begin with, and their worldview in which standardized-test scores and socioeconomic status quotas are more important than the advancement of knowledge, community, and equality are what make them incapable of understanding the value of free education.
It’s been three weeks since Cooper’s administration released its "Figures for 2014 Admitted Students." Since then, the students and families behind those oblique statistics have surfaced. These applicants are faced with a decision that no students accepted to Cooper have ever had to make: should I attend a Cooper Union that charges tuition?
With a new requirement that accepted students put down a $900 tuition deposit by May 1st to secure their acceptance to the Class of 2018, prospective students have already had to cash-in at Cooper or take their business elsewhere. Many accepted students have been forced to decline Cooper’s offer because they can’t afford the tuition, while others have elected put down the non-refundable deposit while they continue to negotiate with other colleges. The Office of Admissions has still not released numbers on how many accepted students will be charged tuition, how many will be receiving financial aid, and how those figures compare to Cooper’s history. In any case, and contrary to Bharucha’s Op-Ed, these numbers do not define the quality of the college.
Priced-out students share their stories
We are beginning to get a better picture of exactly how many accepted students have been forced to decline admission to Cooper Union — not from the Office of Admissions, but from the accepted students themselves. In the past week, Free Cooper Union has received letters from more than ten students who have been accepted to the Class of 2018 but cannot afford the cost of tuition. These accepted students describe eloquently what the opportunity to attend Cooper Union could’ve meant to them, what their hopes and dreams were, and at what cost they have elected to decline admission to Cooper Union this fall.
Bharucha writes that the applicants which Cooper has accepted “are students who could go to school anywhere,” and these letters are a painful affirmation that they in fact will be going elsewhere. These statements stand in stark contrast to Bharucha’s sentiment that “Cooper remains a beacon of access and affordability.” We know now for a fact that many have been forced to turn down Cooper’s offer because of the financial burden of tuition introduced by the Board of Trustees. Other letters voice that accepted students could not bring themselves to attend a college whose administration has continuously ignored the voices of students and community members who work tirelessly to uphold the college’s mission of providing free education to all.
The resounding message from these students is that a Cooper Union which charges tuition is not Cooper Union at all. In an effort to bring the voices of these students together and amplify them loud and clear, Free Cooper Union will be publishing one letter per day (via ourwebsite,Twitter, andFacebook) from these students who have granted permission to share their stories about why they will not be attending Cooper. As you read these letters, consider the impact of each loss not only to the Cooper community, but also to the students themselves, who have been denied an education entrusted to them because of mismanagement perpetrated by Cooper Union’s Board of Trustees.
Today’s letter is from Tyler Y.:
From: Tyler Y.
Date: Sun, May 4, 2014 at 12:13 AM
Subject: Why I Said No to Cooper Union
To: cooperunionsos@gmail.com
Dear Free Cooper Union,
I said “no” to Cooper Union even though, for quite a few years, it was a school I only dreamed of attending. I said no because the Cooper I dreamed about is no longer there and in its place stands a new school that puts to shame the precious ideal of “free education” with “50% off.” If I am expected to pay for a high-quality education in art, I would rather invest in a school that can offer me consistency than in what seems to be becoming a sinking ship.
I was introduced to Cooper by my art teacher many years ago. He had only one student get accepted into the school before and idolized the education there. According to him, Cooper Union was for a very small group of extremely hard-working and driven students. My teacher encouraged his senior students to apply there whenever possible because compared to other art schools, Cooper was undoubtedly the highest up there.
After I started to get more and more serious about pursuing art as a career, I learned that Cooper’s free education meant a lot more than not paying tuition. I began to understand the value of the ideal: free tuition meant education could not be treated as a consumer product or transaction, thereby giving it a unique value of pricelessness. It was also important that “free as air and water” meant no one could be denied a valuable education because they couldn’t afford one. All this resonated with me as I looked up to Cooper Union as a rare case of an impossible vision thriving against the odds. It was inspiring for a young idealist like me.
By the time I applied to Cooper, I was already aware of the unfortunate financial situation (I had been following “Free Cooper Union”) but decided to continue anyway in honor of my old dream. I will admit, I did not expect to get accepted, so applying to Cooper became more of a personal assessment than an actual attempt to get into the school.
Saying no to Cooper was not an easy decision to make. But there is a certain ignorance that becomes apparent in an individual who fails to realize the death of a long-standing dream.
Sincerely,
Tyler Y
(Admitted to the School of Art Class of 2018)
