Columbia and NYU are two of the largest private property owners in NYC.
Due to a tax loophole, these two giant real estate corporations avoid paying over $321 million in property taxes every single year.
Meanwhile, the City University of New York, the public higher education system of New York City, goes chronically underfunded.
It’s time to get Columbia and NYU to PAY UP their fair share back to New York City and fund CUNY, the university system that makes NYC run!
THE PROBLEM
Columbia and NYU are two of the largest private property owners in NYC.
$321 million
property tax evaded
422+
buildings owned
$14.8 billion
Columbia’s endowment
CUNY is the public higher education system that makes our city run!
95%
NYC residents
60%
first-generation
57%
Pell Grant recipients
THE SOLUTION
Let’s get Columbia and NYU to pay up and fund CUNY!
Using the power of the mayoral’s office, the Mayor of NYC has the ability to negotiate a PILOT agreement. PILOT, or Payment In Lieu of Taxes, is an agreement the mayor makes with the heads of universities. In this agreement, the university pays a yearly amount into the municipality they are a part of.
Elite private universities across the country have PILOT agreements with their towns. Yale, Cornell, Harvard, Penn, and Brown all have PILOT agreements. Columbia and NYU are actually the exception in that they do not pay back into New York.
Get Involved!
Write to your City Council Member to support a Resolution in support of Columbia and NYU paying their fair share!
NYC UNION of STUDENTS 