Undergraduate students at Cooper Union will not have to pay tuition.

The college's board of trustees approved a plan this week to provide full scholarships to students within ten years.

The school was tuition-free from the time it opened in 1859 until 2014, when financial problems forced it to start charging students.

School officials say the costs of the plan will be offset by fundraising and unspecified cuts.

Only about 13 percent of applicants are admitted to Cooper Union each year.