Days of free tuition at Cooper Union may be coming to an end A prestigious New York school may be forced to end its 110-year tradition of offering students free tuition due to a $12 million-a-year budget deficit, MyFoxNY.com reports. Cooper Union, in the East Village, has allowed many of the nation's top architecture and engineering students to enjoy the best deal in undergraduate education. But, according to a report in The New York Times, the school borrowed heavily to invest in stocks before the market bubble burst, and has struggled with rising costs. Cooper Union President Jamshed Bharucha told the Times there will be "tough decisions" ahead because "the model that has been in place cannot be sustained."