NYU is among the top 10 largest private landlords in New York City, a position bolstered by tax exemptions that save the institution around $142 million annually as it continues to buy more property. Those who aren’t privileged enough to attend an expensive private institution like NYU have been forced to put up with the city’s underfunded public university system, while residents have had to face the ramifications of the university’s ever-increasing footprint in Greenwich Village. But NYU’s presence in the city does not have to be a force for gentrification, nor does it have to be a constant reminder of our failing public university system. By forgoing its tax exemptions, those funds can be redirected to the public City University of New York system and support the community it calls home.

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander said budget reductions totaling $155 million led to the loss of 235 faculty and staff positions at CUNY. The city’s Executive Budget proposed further permanent cuts of $41 million annually through fiscal year 2026, which would only deepen the financial strain on a system already serving an underserved population — 80% of CUNY undergraduates are students of color, 50% come from families earning less than $30,000 annually and 45% are first-generation students. When public institutions like CUNY run out of funding, it’s these students who suffer as a result.

Accelerate, Complete and Engage is a program at CUNY that helps transfer students complete their bachelor’s degree in two years and integrate into the workforce. In tandem with this, CUNY’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs financially supports students who are completing their associate degrees. Both of these programs financially support students during their studies, yet constant budget cuts only exacerbate the financial burden placed on students and their families and lead to a decline in enrollment. 

Community colleges in New York in particular have been hit incredibly hard by budget cuts, where enrollment is still only 66% of pre-pandemic levels. The effects of this are cyclical — CUNY’s reliance on tuition only increases as financial support for the system decreases. Moreover, it’s important to note that the success of these students will only continue to benefit the city, as over 80% of CUNY graduates stay in New York after graduation. 

A bill proposed last year by New York state Sen. John Liu and Assemblymember Zohran Mamdani aims to reinstate property taxes on private universities that benefit from more than $100 million in tax exemptions — a threshold NYU easily meets. If redirected to CUNY, these funds could provide necessary financial support to public schools that need it. NYU would’ve paid around $142 million in property taxes in 2022, all of which would have gone to CUNY.

This legislation would slow down the university’s abundance of real estate acquisitions and redistribute the money from those property taxes to local schools and resources to benefit more than just those fortunate enough to go to NYU.

NYU’s voracious appetite for commercial property has also been a leading contributor to gentrification in Greenwich Village. The university frequently acquires commercial spaces to repurpose as academic or residential facilities, including a recent acquisition at 770 Broadway. With an ownership portfolio spanning 14 million square feet, NYU’s growth leads to overcrowding, which disrupts local communities by decreasing mobility and increasing rent in the surrounding area. Last year, WSN interviewed Village residents who claimed that the increase of towering university properties has made the area akin to “theme parks.”

The benefits accrued by those living in the city to attend NYU come at the expense of local residents who have spent their lives here. NYU cannot feasibly give back to every member of the community, but by diverting these funds to public universities like CUNY, the university could not only give back to a community that exists outside its own, but could also contribute to a public institution that is designed to serve any and all members of the New York community.

NYU’s mission statement claims that “great cities are engines of creativity, and New York University takes its name and spirit from one of the busiest, most diverse and dynamic cities of all.” Yet, as NYU is constantly expanding at the expense of the people of the city, it’s only right that the institution gives back to the most disadvantaged members of the community they profit from. Paying property taxes is both an economically viable and beneficial way for them to do this. Since NYU as a corporation is unlikely to inherently act on anything that does not benefit its profit margins, it’s up to us as members of the NYU community to pressure them to give back.

WSN’s Opinion section strives to publish ideas worth discussing. The views presented in the Opinion section are solely the views of the writers.

Contact Muhammad Siddiqui at [email protected].