The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
About
The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art, commonly known as Cooper Union, is a private college on Cooper Square in Manhattan, New York City. Peter Cooper founded the institution in 1859 after learning about the government-supported École Polytechnique in France.
Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Non-Pell students graduate at a 4.0-point higher rate than Pell recipients.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 14 Title IV programs, 3 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 1 fails. 10 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing3 · 21.4%
- No Data10 · 71.4%
- Failing1 · 7.1%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
National Association of Schools of Art and Design, Commission on Accreditation
Middle States Commission on Higher Education
Programmatic accreditations · 1
Action history · 5
- Jul 2022Voluntary Withdrawal ReceivedNational Association of Schools of Art and Design, Commission on Accreditation
- Aug 2020Renewal of AccreditationNational Association of Schools of Art and Design, Commission on Accreditation
- Oct 2019Renewal of AccreditationNational Association of Schools of Art and Design, Commission on Accreditation
- Jun 2018Renewal of AccreditationMiddle States Commission on Higher Education
- Aug 2014Change in Agency recognitionNational Association of Schools of Art and Design, Commission on Accreditation · Art and Design (ART) - Degree-granting schools and departments and non-degree-granting programs
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 259 students received $1.7M in Pell grants, alongside $2.3M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 66 borrowers who entered repayment, 2 (3.0%) defaulted within three years — above the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at Cooper
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
- Public property3
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
No hate crimes reported.
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
Data quality: 1 report was later determined unfounded across the reporting period and are excluded from the totals above.
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Cooper vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Cooper selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectThe Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art | 81% | — | 933 | $16,478 | Baccalaureate |
Art Center College of Design | 79% | 74.5% | 2,308 | $50,209 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs |
Brown University | 96% | 5.4% | 11,956 | $26,572 | R1 Research |
California College of the Arts | 61% | 91.1% | 1,308 | $42,168 | — |
California Institute of Technology | 94% | 2.6% | 2,430 | $18,902 | R1 Research |
California Institute of the Arts | 67% | 32.3% | 1,277 | $47,183 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs |
Carnegie Mellon University | 94% | 11.7% | 15,888 | $31,671 | R1 Research |
Columbia University in the City of New York | 96% | 4.0% | 35,173 | $20,148 | R1 Research |
Cornell University | 95% | 8.8% | 26,793 | $32,337 | R1 Research |
Dartmouth College | 96% | 5.4% | 6,938 | $28,619 | R1 Research |
Franklin W Olin College of Engineering | 96% | 25.2% | 405 | $20,575 | — |
Georgia Institute of Technology-Main Campus | 94% | 14.1% | 53,363 | $13,289 | R1 Research |
Harvey Mudd College | 92% | 12.7% | 951 | $32,492 | Baccalaureate |
Lafayette College | 88% | 31.4% | 2,775 | $32,496 | Baccalaureate |
Lehigh University | 88% | 25.9% | 7,692 | $33,549 | R2 Research |
Maryland Institute College of Art | 72% | 76.8% | 1,687 | $38,429 | — |
Massachusetts College of Art and Design | 69% | 76.3% | 1,989 | $23,764 | — |
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | 96% | 4.5% | 11,886 | $19,813 | R1 Research |
New York University | 88% | 9.2% | 56,832 | $35,035 | R1 Research |
Pratt Institute-Main | 74% | 73.3% | 5,356 | $50,647 | — |
Princeton University | 98% | 4.6% | 9,137 | $10,555 | R1 Research |
Purdue University-Main Campus | 83% | 49.9% | 58,658 | $13,945 | R1 Research |
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute | 84% | 63.5% | 7,040 | $33,139 | R1 Research |
Rhode Island School of Design | 89% | 18.7% | 2,520 | $46,253 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Rice University | 95% | 8.0% | 8,961 | $12,640 | R1 Research |
Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology | 78% | 76.9% | 2,334 | $40,665 | — |
School of the Art Institute of Chicago | 67% | 77.5% | 3,394 | $49,822 | — |
School of Visual Arts | 76% | 92.6% | 3,812 | $58,628 | Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs |
Stanford University | 92% | 3.6% | 18,625 | $12,136 | R1 Research |
Stevens Institute of Technology | 87% | 47.6% | 8,469 | $40,468 | R2 Research |
Swarthmore College | 92% | 7.5% | 1,623 | $18,686 | Baccalaureate |
Syracuse University | 84% | 45.9% | 22,589 | $41,026 | R1 Research |
University of California-Berkeley | 93% | 11.0% | 45,882 | $14,979 | R1 Research |
University of Pennsylvania | 97% | 5.4% | 29,109 | $31,229 | R1 Research |
Yale University | 96% | 3.9% | 15,564 | $27,818 | R1 Research |
| Peer group median | 89% | 16.4% | 7,040 | $31,671 |
Cooper Institutional Research office
The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.
The OIR serves all segments of the college community, including faculty, staff, administrators, and students. We are committed to supporting the college's educational mission through the collection, maintenance, analysis, and interpretation of data, while prioritizing the disaggregation of information to address inequalities in student outcomes.
Visit IR office page- Michael CarhartDirector of Institutional Research
Reports & documents (2)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
- DFR reportIPEDS Data Feedback Report 20242024nces.ed.gov
- Strategic planStrategic Plan for the Albert Nerken School of Engineering2019The strategic plan for the Albert Nerken School of Engineering at The Cooper Union highlights the pivotal role of technological innovation in addressing societal challenges. Adopted unanimously by faculty, the plan aligns with institutional goals while emphasizing faculty and student contributions for its success. This comprehensive strategy will guide the school through critical developments until the year 2025.cooper.edu
Frequently asked questions about The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Cooper.
What is the graduation rate at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art?
How many students attend The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art?
What is the average net price at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art?
What is the yield rate at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art?
Where is The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art located?
Who runs Institutional Research at The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art?
Have a question this page can’t answer?
Ask Clema anything about The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art and its peers — plain language in, cited answers out, in minutes instead of days.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card