The conventions of capitalism break down when applied to family. You can’t treat a loved one like a business. Why shouldn’t the relationship between individuals in the school community be more like that of family members than that of a service provider and consumer?
The value of a school doesn’t lie in the price. It can’t be denoted by thousands of dollars or years of debt. It’s in the community of people. It’s in the union of people. There is something extremely special and rare in an institution that recognizes that what is truly valuable is also immaterial, and that a person’s potential to make a creative and enlightened contribution to society is more important than their ability to pay tuition.
I believe that people are inherently more valuable than their material assets. This belief is uncommon among institutions, yet Cooper Union exists as a physical manifestation of it. I couldn’t be anywhere else.