New York University, a Manhattan property development firm with a promising education wing, charges students a lot of money to attend. Undergraduate tuition, room, and board is currently estimated at $65,000 per year. What if a student wants to attend, but doesn't have the money? Who will pay? I don't know—the teachers, maybe?

Gothamist notes an email from Erin Dodd, executive director of NYU's annual fund, that was sent to university staffers this week. It reads:

Dear Colleagues,

Every day you show your dedication to our students. Today, I invite you to join me in giving those students an additional support. I invite you to make a gift for scholarships.

Our community is enriched each year by deserving students who would not be here without scholarship support. The senior class comes together to leave a legacy of scholarships through the 1831 Fund. Last year the faculty and staff matched their gifts. This year our goal is to provide 80 brilliant young minds with the chance for an NYU education - a dynamic urban experience that you make possible with your daily efforts.

You can make your gift to the 1831 Fund, a scholarship fund at any school, study away scholarships, or the general scholarship fund. Your voluntary participation is most appreciated.

Tomorrow you will see students raising gifts at tables across campus. Please join them and make your gift today.

Thank you for all that you do for NYU this day and every day.

Warm wishes,

Erin Dodd

Executive Director, Annual Fund

Which, were the outrageous sums the university requires of its students funneled directly to its employees, would be fine, I guess. The students pay too much, the teachers make too much—just have the teachers give some of it back! (Or, you know, lower the tuition.)

But alas, of course, it isn't that simple. As the New York Times reported last year and NYU professor Mark Crispin Miller reiterated in a comment to Gothamist, faculty members aren't exactly rolling in it: they received an average 2.5 percent pay increase between 2010 and 2012, while "25 top administrators" got a 25 percent bump. We can only imagine NYU's non-faculty staffers are doing no better.

So where is the money going? NYU's atrocious Abu Dhabi campus, maybe, or the $1 million loan the school gave to pay for university president John Sexton's beach house. Or the school's $6 billion plan to continue its gradual engulfment of the entirety of downtown Manhattan. University stuff. Non-profit stuff. The students will have to fend for themselves. Or the teachers can pay.

[Image via AP]

Contact the author at andy@gawker.com.