NYU’s ‘Toxic’ Expansion Prioritizes Marketing Over Debt-Saddled Students, Professors Say
n a time of growing alarm over soaring student loan debt, New York University — which graduates the most indebted classes of students in the country — has embarked on an ambitious real estate expansion that could make the school even more expensive.
A vocal group of professors has mounted a rebellion aimed at halting the university’s plans, which call for the addition of 6 million square feet of new space over the next two decades. NYU’s administration has refused to publicly disclose the cost, but faculty critics point to estimates that the build-out could run several billion dollars.
“The situation is so toxic right now,” said Adam Becker, an associate professor of religious studies at the university, and a member of the faculty opposition movement. “People are angry at the place. We feel like we have been pushed into the corner.”
Like many of its students, NYU will need to finance its ambitions through borrowing. The plan’s critics argue that these costs will surely get passed along to future classes in the form of higher tuition and less financial aid.
“I think they should put more money back into scholarships for students instead of expanding,” said Sashika Gunawardana, who graduated from NYU in 2012 with about $150,000 in student loans.
