News & Opinions

NJ Schools, Colleges Brace for State Aid Cuts

The Record

by Leslie Brody and Patricia Alex, Staff Writers

February 12, 2010  

Education leaders in North Jersey said Governor Christie's decision to freeze state aid midyear could lead to college tuition hikes, property tax increases and school staff cuts in the fall.

Christie said Thursday he would withhold $475 million in promised state aid to schools and $62 million in aid to public colleges and universities to help balance the current state budget.

The plan to cut $62.1 million in funding to the state's public colleges and universities is likely to trigger more hikes in a state where public tuition already is among the highest in the nation, averaging $11,000 annually at the four-year schools.

In December, Christie met with higher education leaders and slammed what he called eight years of Democratic neglect. He promised that their schools would be a priority in his administration but warned that near-term cuts could be in the offing.

"We knew this was going to be a tough budget," said Paul Shelly, spokesman for the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Read full story here.

Aid Freeze Costs Colleges $62 Million

The state's public colleges will lose about $62 million under the state's aid freeze announced in Trenton on Thursday by the governor, with $53.6 million of it coming from the four-year colleges.  

The cut amounts to about a 6.3 percent decrease in their state aid this year.

Local college presidents say they realize they will have to share the budget plan this year, and they have already been working to keep their budgets tight both this year and next.

Richard Stockton College President Herman J. Saatkamp, Jr. said he believes Gov. Chris Christie supports the colleges and has been fair.

"We realize there had to be some cuts," he said. Stockton will lose $1.4 million.

He said the state can take other steps to help the colleges. He cited allowing the colleges to enter into public/private partnerships, and engaging in projects like the solar canopies at Stockton, as examples of efforts that save money and benefit students.

Rowan University President Donald Farish agreed that giving the colleges more freedom to generate their own new revenue helps cushion the blow when state aid is cut. 

Rowan will lose $2.6 million in aid, but Farish said increased enrollment this year and new revenue from continuing education programs will compensate.

"The more independent we can be, the better off we will be," Farish said. 

Local Residents Offer Advice at Assembly Hearing on NJ

Excerpted from the AC Press
February 3, 2010

 When the state opened the mics to the public to brainstorm ways to help fix New Jersey on Tuesday, two women from Cape and Cumberland counties answered the call. They were among the state residents who gave lawmakers some imaginative ideas for solving the state's fiscal woes, including allowing casino gambling in the Meadowlands, eliminating county government and legalizing hemp farming.

More than 130 people signed up to speak at the four-hour hearing at the Statehouse. The heavy turnout prompted Oliver and Republican Leader Alex DeCroce to split the group into three, with Assembly Democrats and Republicans assigned to the overflow rooms to limit the amount of time residents had to wait before testifying.

Tom Ng, the student government president at Ramapo College, urged lawmakers to put more money into higher education to keep New Jersey students from leaving the state for college. New Jersey ranks at the bottom nationally in the number of high schoolers who stay here for college, he said, while it is in the top five nationally for K-12 per pupil spending.

In other words, he said, New Jersey does a good job educating its students but a lousy job retaining them through college, if they can afford college at all.

"The state is losing its investment," he said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

New Jersey College Tuition Caps Hide More Than They Help

Trenton Times

February 1, 2010

As it will still be a while until the next state budget is put before the legislature, it is a good time to single out an artful Trenton creation that serves primarily a political aim: the tuition cap.

Over the past decade or so, ironically coinciding with a period of funding reductions to higher education institutions, Trenton has seen fit to impose, periodically, an arbitrary limit on the rate of state college/university tuition increases. 

As state investment declined, citizens had to make up for the difference by paying a significantly higher share of state college costs. Tuition caps gloss over this core problem. On the surface, the caps seem to help students and families. Ultimately, though, they are poor policy because they impinge on the responsibility and accountability of the nonpartisan, volunteer citizen trustees at each individual state college and university to make tuition decisions that strike a reasonable balance among affordability, educational quality and fiscal responsibility and commitments. By law, such decisions are made in public meetings.

It is instructive that, for the current year, tuition increases would have been about 3% without the cap set in the budget. The 3% cap simply codified agreements that had already been struck in Trenton with input from state college presidents and trustees who were concerned about college affordability amidst a worrisome economic climate.

Moreover, prior tuition caps that were set as part of past state budgets have not affected the overall affordability of college any more than the size of fuel tanks on automobiles has affected gas mileage or the price of petroleum. In both cases, there are larger, longer-term forces at play. With colleges, the factors include student/family resource limitations; enrollment demand; facilities debt accumulated because of lack of state investment in facilities over recent decades; and state-mandated, contractual, salary obligations; among others. Reflecting this principle, some states that have tried to suppress tuition increases have reached the point, often in a recession, at which a jolting increase was critical to fiscal survival. This has been the case with the CUNY (City University of New York) and SUNY (State University of New York) systems in New York. California, with its recent 32 percent tuition hike, is an example of a state that may have kept tuition increases too low in certain years.

This is not an argument for even higher tuition. Students in New Jersey are already paying a higher share of college costs than they should. Neither is this a case for less accountability; direct public accountability is important. Rather, it is an effort to clarify the kinds of actions needed to preserve and enhance the affordability of public, four-year institutions. These steps include:

• Reasonable and predictable state investment in college operations and facilities;

• Relief from state constraints and bureaucratic red tape that have long outlived their purpose or never helped the colleges in the first place;

• Relief from state mandates not backed by government funding, which then have to be paid for using precious tuition revenues;

• Rethinking and realignment of some student financial aid programs with the needs of students from low- and middle-income families foremost in mind;

• Greater freedom for institutions to engage in entrepreneurial ventures and partnerships to help raise new revenues and defray costs; and

• Holding citizen boards of trustees at state colleges and universities accountable for policy governing these institutions, including the setting of tuition.

Based on the results of polls sponsored by New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities, many New Jersey residents say that the state should do a lot more to help enhance college opportunity and affordability. State college leaders look forward to working with the new governor and legislature on these matters.

"Capping" tuition is a feel-good measure that does not merit support because it creates an illusion that damages public trust and obscures the truly important college affordability issues that can and should be addressed soon. 

Christie Keeps Cuts to Higher Education on Table

Increase in State Deficit May Require "Sacrifice"

Claire Hedinger, Statehouse Bureau

Star Ledger - December 15, 2009

Gov-elect Chris Christie, who campaigned to boost state funding for higher education and called past levels of support "deplorable," will not rule out further aid cuts to public colleges and universities in his first budget.

Following a meeting at Rutgers University yesterday with the leaders of several colleges and universities, Christie said he hopes to avoid cuts but "in this first year there's going to be a lot of shared sacrifice."

He said his transition team now estimates next year's budget deficit at $9.5 billion -- up from $8 billion projected earlier this year by the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services.

 "Other things will feel that brunt more quickly than higher education will, but I can't make a flat-out commitment that it won't be cut," Christie, who takes office January 19 told reporters.

Calling higher education a "top priority," Christie said he still plans more spending over the course of his four-year term. He declined to give a dollar figure of what is necessary, but said more money is needed to counteract tuition levels that discourage New Jerseyans from staying in the state for college.

 "It is an investment in our economy both in the short term and the long term," Christie said, adding New Jersey ranks in the bottom three out of 50 states for its investment in higher education. "We're going to change it. We're not going to change it overnight."

 In this year's $29 billion budget, Gov. Jon Corzine initially proposed a 5 percent cut to higher education, but was able to plug the hole with $40 million in federal stimulus money. To qualify for public aid, Corzine and lawmakers required colleges to raise "tuition rates and required educational and general fees" by no more than 3 percent.

 That helped produce the lowest rate of tuition increases at New Jersey public colleges in more than 20 years, according to an August Star-Ledger survey. Students at public four-year schools faced an average of $11,036 in tuition and required fees, a 3.6 percent increase over last year. Prior to that, tuition had grown by an average of 7.4 percent each year since 2005.

 There is no guarantee there will be more federal stimulus money for higher education for Christie's first budget, due in March, said Darryl Greer, executive director of the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities.

 Greer said more cuts in state aid could have consequences for tuition, enrollment, staffing and other areas at public colleges, which can no longer "trim at the margins." But he stressed colleges are realistic about the budget crisis and look forward to working with Christie.

 "They know what he's inheriting, and it's almost an impossible list in terms of this state's dire financial conditions. And higher education's got to be a helping hand, not a hat in hand," Greer said.

 Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan (D-Middlesex), chairman of the higher education committee, said he would push for a similar cap on tuition and fee increases in next year's budget if there are more cuts. He said he reluctantly agrees with Christie that aid has to be "on the table."

"It's easy during a campaign to criticize, and now it's time for a reality check," Diegnan said. "There is nothing more important for the future of our state and our country than properly funding higher education."

Rutgers University President Richard McCormick, who joined Christie in New Brunswick at the meeting of the executive board of the New Jersey College Presidents' Council, thanked Christie for his four-year commitment. But McCormick said he and fellow college presidents are "struggling" financially and "concerned that the year ahead is shaping up to be even tougher than the year we're in now -- and that's saying a lot." 

For complete version of the article, go to www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf. 

Give New Jersey's Public Colleges the Freedom They Need  

Guest Column: A View from the head of the NJ Association of State Colleges & Universities 

The Press of Atlantic City, November 30, 2009

The long-standing model for public funding of public colleges and universities is severely broken. The model that seemed to work so well in a great many states for decades now needs a thorough re-engineering to achieve the promise of college opportunity. This is especially true in New Jersey, where 80 percent of all college students are in the public sector.

The state that leads all others in college preparation cannot afford to continue to lead the nation in net loss of college bound students to other states. Gov-elect Chris Christie seems to understands this; it was part of his final campaign push, and it underpins one of his campaign commitments.

It is unproductive to focus too much blame for the breakdown of a rationale for financing public colleges on the current economic downturn. Public disinvestment in public colleges has been an ongoing trend for two decades, principally because of high demand from other priority entitlements, high state debt burden and limits on tax revenue. Even sacrosanct student financial aid programs suffer from rationing -- meaning spreading limited money to more students.

Even with the staggering financial challenges facing our new governor, there are things that can be done to help state colleges and universities stay strong during a period of very high demand and very limited state resources. To name a few:

The state can free up the colleges from unproductive regulation to innovate and to help improve productivity. A poll we did in October showed that many likely voters, accurately, attributed increased tuition costs to state disinvestment and regulation. Conversely, they place much ore confidence in nonpartisan trustee boards and presidents than in Trenton for effective financial stewardship. State colleges face burdensome regulations and millions of dollars in unfunded state mandates that tie their hands in contracting, purchasing, construction and personnel management. The more we do to free up the colleges to be directly accountable, and without being choked by Trenton's red tape, the greater will be the benefit to students.

The colleges and universities can use their freedom to eliminate unproductive programs, recruit the best faculty and staff and raise private monies to support student financial aid and new technology. They can expand partnerships with business, schools, labor and local communities to broaden college access and to keep talented citizens here.

The state should fund state-mandated costs such as labor contracts it negotiates, or eliminate such unfunded mandates. The state should follow the state mandate/state pay principles it follows for local government. Where the law requires that free service be extended to certain citizens, the state should simply reimburse the institutions in full for these costs.

The state and its universities can create, immediately, a blue-ribbon study panel to examine the infrastructure needs of the state's public colleges. The panel should review different funding models, especially private partnerships, to meet the growing needs for construction.

This list is not exhaustive, but it is a start. We need a 21st century model for higher education investment, innovation, service and accountability.  

New Jersey Needs a New Model for Higher Education Investment, Innovation, Service and Accountability

Commentary - Darryl Greer
New Jersey Newsroom
November 25, 2009

There is widespread opinion, among higher education leaders and public policy analysts nationally, that the current, long-standing model for public funding of public colleges and universities is severely broken.  The model that seemed to work so well in a great many states, for decades during the latter half of the 20th century, seems now, even with an anticipated economic recovery, to need much more than just a lube or a tune-up.  It needs a thorough reengineering to achieve the promise of college opportunity.  This is especially true in New Jersey, where 80% of all college students are in the public sector.

Fundamental change is needed to get New Jersey on a track to retain more of its precious human resources and to achieve economic prosperity for all citizens.  The state that leads all others in college preparation cannot afford to continue to lead the nation in net loss of college-bound students to other states.  Governor-elect Chris Christie seems to understand this; it was part of his final campaign push, and it underpins one of his campaign commitments.

Moving forward, it is unproductive to focus too much blame for the breakdown of a rationale for financing public colleges on the current economic downturn.  Public disinvestment in the programmatic and facilities needs of public colleges has been an ongoing trend for two decades, principally because of high demand from other priority entitlements, high state debt burden, and limits revenue on tax.  Even sacrosanct student financial aid programs suffer from rationing -- meaning spreading limited money to more students.

The promising news is that new leadership coming to the governor's office appears to have a strong grasp of the fundamental role that public higher education can play in expanding opportunity, creating jobs, growing the economy, and making New Jersey a better place to grow up, and remain.  Incoming legislative leaders, too, have shown they have an understanding of these critical dynamics.

Beyond what we may expect of these leaders, there is promise in the fact that the typical New Jersey citizen cares about public higher education as an important part of the future.  We know the public believes that it is important to keep colleges accessible and affordable from the responses we received to questions asked in a recent (October 2009) public opinion poll of 670 likely voters.  We are also seeing stirrings of a grassroots movement in support of public higher education, exemplified by the fact that enrollment in our statewide advocacy program, www.njcollegepromise.com, recently surged beyond 5,000.

Even with the staggering financial challenges facing our new governor, there are things that can be done to help state colleges and universities stay strong during a period of very high demand and very limited state resources.  To name a few:

The state can free up the colleges from unproductive regulation to innovate and to help improve productivity.  Our poll showed that many likely voters, accurately, attributed increased tuition costs to state disinvestment and regulation.  Conversely, they place much more confidence in nonpartisan trustee boards and presidents than in Trenton for effective financial stewardship.  State colleges face burdensome regulations and millions of dollars in unfunded state mandates that tie their hands in contracting, purchasing, construction, personnel management and that drain time, energy and money that can be used to improve service and accountability.  The more we do to free up the colleges to be directly accountable, and without being choked by Trenton's red tape, the greater will be the benefit to students, public service and transparency.

The colleges and universities can continue to use their freedom to improve productivity, keep costs in check to preserve college affordability, and build new programs prudently to serve the state.  At the same time, the institutions can continue eliminating unproductive programs, recruit the best faculty and staff, raise private monies to support student financial aid and new technology, and continue to improve as national models for excellence, accountability and ethical best practices.  They can expand partnerships with business, schools, labor and local communities to broaden college access and to keep talented citizens here.  Through the New Jersey College Promise and Nine Strong for a Stronger New Jersey projects, the colleges have already pledged to accomplish these goals.

The state should fund state-mandated costs such as labor contracts it negotiates, or eliminate such unfunded mandates.  The state should follow the state mandate-state pay principles it follows for local government.  Where the law requires that free service be extended to certain citizens, the state should simply reimburse the institutions in full for these costs.

The state and its universities can create, immediately, a blue-ribbon study panel to examine the infrastructure needs of the state's public colleges.  The panel should review different funding models, especially private partnerships to meet the growing needs for construction and preservation of campus buildings.  Such funding models should converge with overall state needs.  This group or another can be charged, too, to discover improvements in the fields of teaching, nursing, environmental sustainability and transportation, all very important to New Jersey's future.

This list is not exhaustive, but is a start.  We need a new 21st century model for higher education investment, innovation, service and accountability -- one that is equitable and sustainable for all funding partners, one that enhances college access, affordability and achievement; and one that uses the assets, know-how and energy of public higher education to serve the broader public good.  The Garden State can, and should, lead the nation on these important goals.

NJ Losing Out on $6B a Year When College Students Flee State

NJ.com - October 30, 2009
Mark DiIonno (excerpts from October 30th column)

When it comes to K-12 education, New Jersey is usually A-1.  The state is the nation's yearly valedictorian, or salutatorian.  Certainly never less than fifth in the class.

So why then is New Jersey at the bottom of so many higher education categories:  50th in per capita funding; 47th in college capacity, and therefore, worst, by far, at keeping students in-state.

In this economy, more and more New Jersey students want to stay home.  At the state's 19 community colleges enrollment is up 12 percent, nearing 100,000 for the first time.  The nine state colleges (not including Rutgers), are also tipping near 100,000, up 20 percent in the last decade.

Yet in real dollars, the state spends less on higher education than it did 20 years ago.  That's one bottom line.

Here's another.

About 35,000 kids leave New Jersey each year to go to college and take about $6 billion with them.

"When you factor in tuition, transportation and all other student spending, there is significant revenue leaving the state," said Paul Shelly of the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities.  "My calculations put it at $6 billion."

Shelly says the money isn't going far, either.  Most New Jersey students stay in the Mid-Atlantic or New England.

"New Jersey does [not do] much research as to where the students are going.  I don't think they want to admit our money is being exported just over to Lehigh Valley or down in Delaware."

"Studies show a very high percentage of students get their first jobs in the state where they attend college," Shelly said.  "I don't think New Jersey can continue to lose our bright students, the very students we create."

To view entire article:  click here.

Previous News & Opinion Articles 

New Jersey State College Students Deserve Better Support - New Jersey Newsroom (October 27, 2009) John McGoldrick - Chair, NJ Association of State Colleges and Universities.

Board of  Education President Elected Into College Hall of Fame - Teaneck Suburbanite, NorthJersey.com (October 22, 2009)

New Jersey State College Tuition and Fee Increases Well Below U.S. Average - New Jersey Newsroom, (October 22, 2009) Paul Shelly, Director of Communications & Marketing

Voters Say Opportunity is Important - and Trust College Leaders to Provide It:  ASCU: Heeding Results Could Help Candidates for Governor - New Jersey Newsroom (October 8, 2009) Darryl Greer, Executive Director

Record Number Enrolled at State Colleges - The Record (September 22, 2009)

Approximately 100,000 Students Are Now Enrolled at New Jersey's Nine State Colleges and Universities - (September 22, 2009) Press Release, Paul Shelly, Director of Communications & Marketing

State Colleges host Statewide Conference on Meeting the Needs of Student Veterans and Servicemembers in the Post 9/11 Era - Two Hundred Participating in Operation College Promise Forum - Wendy A. Lang - September 15, 2009

Three NJ State Colleges and Universities Awarded Military Friendly Status by G.I. Jobs Magazine
Ranked in Top 15% of U.S. Colleges and Universities - Wendy Lang, Director, Fiscal Affairs & Policy Research, ASCU (August 17, 2009)

State Colleges work with Trenton to Keep Tuition Affordable, and Grow College Opportunity and the Economy (Press Release, July 12, 2009)

State College Leaders Laud New Bill Allowing Private Firms to Build and Finance Campus Construction (Press Release - June 22, 2009)

NJ Colleges Join Forces to Assist Returning Veterans - (The Times, June 13, 2009)

Operation College Promise Announces Advisory Board -- Launches Website for Servicemembers - June 11, 2009

Failing to Invest in Colleges a Disservice to New Jersey's Students - Darryl G. Greer, CEO (Trenton Times, April 29, 2009)

State Colleges Win $100,000 ACE/Wal-Mart "Success for Veterans" Competitive Grant

Operation College Promise Expects to Serve Thousands of Veterans - Wendy A. Lang, Paul Shelly 

April 23, 2009

ACE Releases Transfer Guide to Assist Service Members

The American Council on Education - Press Release - Monday, March 16, 2009

Higher Education Funding Cuts Have Become a Trend - Barbara Gitenstein, President of The College of New Jersey (APP.com [Web Extra], April 6, 2009).

State Aid Cuts Threaten New Jerseys Colleges - Commentary by Darryl Greer (Home News Tribune, April 3, 2009)

NJ Association of State Colleges & Universities' Position Statement on the Proposed FY 2009-2010 State Budget - Darryl Greer and Paul Shelly (Press Release, March 12, 2009)

Nine State Colleges and Universities Suffer Sudden, Additional Cut - Darryl Greer and Paul Shelly (March 3, 2009)

We Will Work with Trenton and Washington to Maximize NJ Share of Federal Stimulus Funding for Higher Education - Darryl Greer and Paul Shelly (Press Release, February 6, 2009)

New Jersey State Colleges, Nine-Strong, Vow Support for Veterans. 
Will become "Military Service Friendly" in 2009 - January 21, 2009

Archive News & Opinion Articles - 2008 and earlier, click here.

150 West State Street, Trenton, NJ 08608 | (609) 989.1100 | njascu@njascu.org