3 Hofstra Alumni Donors To Help Pay For First Presidential Debate In September

HEMPSTEAD, N.Y. (CBSNewYork) — Hofstra University on Long Island will not have to touch tuition from students when it hosts the first presidential debate this fall thanks to three wealthy alumni donors.

It's expected to cost around $5 million for the university to host the Sept. 26 debate.

University spokesperson Karla Schuster said real estate developers Peter Kalikow and David Mack and former chief executive of Pantone Inc., Lawrence Herbert, have "generously agreed to help underwrite the cost."

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Hofstra previously spent about $5 million on the 2012 debate between President Barack Obama and then-Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

"We have a lot of infrastructure in place already so we do not think that the costs will go up substantially," Schuster told WCBS 880's Sophia Hall.

Additional local security costs could exceed $700,000. Municipalities do not get reimbursed, though they do expect a windfall from restaurant and hotel bookings.

The debate was originally scheduled to be held at Wright State University in Ohio, but the school bowed out citing "cost and safety concerns."

The Commission on Presidential Debates said Hofstra agreed to serve as an alternate for the debate back in September of 2015.