Dear Students, Faculty, and Staff:

Yesterday morning, the deans, vice presidents, and I met with representatives from our real estate advisor, Newmark Knight Frank, to review "landing" sites for a new campus in New York City. We were very encouraged and indeed excited by opportunities that:

• position New York Tech closer to >70% of the homes of undergraduate students who currently attend the Manhattan campus;
• offer easy access to public transportation from inside and outside the NYC metro area;
• help to provide more financial aid to increasing numbers of students with higher need;
• are much more affordable and cost efficient in order to improve our economics and much-needed resources;
• offer lower cost nearby housing for new faculty and better local student housing;
• are renovated and have between 100,000 and 200,000 rentable square feet with open floor plans and much greater assignable area than our current space in Manhattan;
• put us closer to new, technology-based businesses that are and will be synergistic with our teaching and research, and will be employers of our students as well as New York Tech partners; and
• are within three miles of our present Manhattan campus.

Let me remind you that there are no plans for reductions in programs. In fact, we expect undergraduate enrollments to grow and for this new NYC campus to prosper through a 21st-century facility.

In addition, we already have faculty proposals for high-end, professional education and existing programs that can be offered to adult learners at 16 West 61st Street and the Auditorium on Broadway, which will maintain our presence in Manhattan at Columbus Circle. These kinds of programs are just what we need.

An initial group of faculty, deans, and VPs will advise on the best sites, with visits starting in the next week or so. Another group that includes faculty, staff, students, and others will advise on priority needs for fitting out the new space.

I recognize that change can be frightening, but it can also be a chance to begin again. This combined approach of monetizing our assets in Manhattan and moving to a better location closer to our student base will reduce costs and add revenue, while also strengthening our balance sheet. These exciting new investments and plans for actively growing New York Tech's NYC presence—combined with the plans to revitalize the Long Island campus—put us on track for a new future that makes us more competitive while offering a more dynamic and engaging student experience. As a result, in that future, we will be even better able to fulfill our mission of providing access to professional education for all qualified students as well as conducting scholarship and research that is relevant to the world.

Best regards,

Hank Foley, Ph.D.
President, New York Institute of Technology