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April 27, 2004
Your Tuition Dollars at Work
When students at New York University have to resort to living in the basement of the library like mole people because they can稚 afford housing, it痴 a sign that tuition costs are just too damn high.
Since NYU isn't very forthcoming about their finances, I致e had my financial staff crib together some numbers for you. Young Steve Stanzak was paying the College of Arts & Sciences, excluding fees, room (obviously) and board $30,095 per year. If you multiply that amount by the 5,700 enrolled students, NYU receives $171,541,500 per year from this college alone.
Now, keep in mind the College of Arts & Sciences is only one of NYU痴 14 separate schools, which include the Graduate School of Arts & Sciences (4,100 students at $22,056 per year for another $90,429,600), and the profitable Stern School of Business, whose 6,020 students each pay $34,726 (totaling $209,050,520) into the NYU coffers each year.
That痴 crazy, you池e saying. NYU offers financial aid (Stanzak claims to have had $15,000 in loans and scholarships), and all that money doesn稚 go directly from student痴 pockets to the NYU bank account. And you are right! Why, the average need-based scholarship for undergraduate freshmen is a generous $4,065, bringing tuition costs down to just over $20,000 per year. Too bad for you Stern students, though � even with financial aid, your average debt load upon graduation will still be $62,590. Ouch!
For those of you keeping track at home, our total so far is: $471,021,620 in tuition for only three out of NYU痴 14 schools. People, that痴 almost half a billion dollars a year. Of course, this figure doesn稚 take into account any expenses, such as staff salaries or money spent on facilities and student services. But it also doesn稚 include the school痴 billion dollar endowment (skip to second page), considerable alumni gifts, or real estate income.
So it seems fair to ask � NYU, just what in the hell are you spending this money on? It痴 clearly not on things like pension and health benefits for adjunct faculty.
In this week's Villager, President John Sexton reassures the public that it's not all going to gold bullion and milk-fed virgins. Instead, he outlines an alarming plan for the manifest destiny of NYU that will soon spread from the Puck Building on Houston Street to NYU Medical Center�.and beyond!
Well, John, keep hiking up tuition to pay for all your new buildings, and I知 sure you値l soon end up with that 塗ighly selective� research university you dream of.
