Officials at New York City's Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art announced today that the school, famously free to students, will begin charging undergraduate tuition next year. The highly selective art, architecture, and engineering college has faced numerous financial challenges in recent years, amounting to a $12 million annual deficit, even after leasing a nearby parcel to a developer who is building a soon-to-be-complete Fumihiko Maki project on the site. The school had previously covered the cost of student tuition with scholarships. It announced last year that it would begin charging tuition for graduate students.
The move comes four years after the school completed the construction of a $111 million academic building by Thom Mayne's Morphosis Architects. Cooper Union plans to continue offering scholarships to cover some tuition costs according to need-based calculations. It has also pledged to keep the admissions process "need blind."
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