Incoming New York University freshmen will pay nearly $71,000 for tuition and estimated expenses next year, and NYU is asking its staff to help foot the crippling bill.
NYU has been criticized in recent years for giving faculty and executives unusually large bonuses, opening partner campuses in China and the United Arab Emirates, and giving its star faculty loans to pay for vacation homes in the Hamptons as well as multimillion-dollar loans for purchasing homes in New York City, all practices the school has defended as necessary to attract top talent.
Meanwhile, federal student loan debt topped $1 trillion three years ago this May.
This is the email sent to NYU staff earlier this week:
Every day you show your dedication to our students. Today, I invite you to join me in giving those students an additional support. I invite you to make a gift for scholarships.
Our community is enriched each year by deserving students who would not be here without scholarship support. The senior class comes together to leave a legacy of scholarships through the 1831 Fund. Last year the faculty and staff matched their gifts. This year our goal is to provide 80 brilliant young minds with the chance for an NYU education – a dynamic urban experience that you make possible with your daily efforts.
You can make your gift to the 1831 Fund, a scholarship fund at any school, study away scholarships, or the general scholarship fund. Your voluntary participation is most appreciated.
Tomorrow you will see students raising gifts at tables across campus. Please join them and make your gift today.
Thank you for all that you do for NYU this day and every day.
Warm wishes,
Erin Dodd
Executive Director, Annual Fund
Gothamist first reported the scoop Thursday, which came from a source who claims to work in NYU admissions.
According to Gothamist:
“The ever-increasing tuition is very much a concern for our students and some of our administration, so that request to employees for money to help subsidize financial aid awards is absurd and asinine,” the tipster writes. “Especially when you factor in the millions of dollars spent on expansion of the University’s presence around the world and NYC.”
NYU spokesman John Beckman said requests for donations are common at other universities and told Gothamist he contributes “to make it a bit easier for a student with financial need who dreams of attending NYU to be able to go there.”
Students at NYU apparently need all the help they can get. NYU’s startlingly high tuition and scares financial aid caused The Princeton Review to rank NYU’s financial aid and administration the worst in its 2009 survey.
According to a summer 2014 ranking of the most expensive colleges, based on what students pay directly to the school and not including books, health care, and travel, at least 50 American colleges are now charging students more than $60,000 per year.
