The Cooper Union Says It Is on Track to Restore Tuition-Free Education by 2029, Despite Pandemic-Related Setbacks The school faced heated blowback after it started charging tuition in 2012. A banner calling for free tuition hung at the Cooper Union during a 2011 protest. The Cooper Union, home to a storied and once tuition-free art school in New York, is on track to restore its original mission to make education as “free as air and water,” in the words of founder Peter Cooper, by 2029. Two years after devising the plan, which called for building a reserve of $250 million, the pandemic initially raised concerns about whether it would meet that goal.