Lisa G. Ryan, Gannett State Bureau
September 17, 2008

New Jersey's nine public colleges and universities launched a statewide public awareness campaign Tuesday aimed at reversing the trend of decreasing state funding for higher education.

The institutions, which got a 10 percent cut in direct aid this fiscal year, want to make higher education a primary issue among lawmakers, business leaders and ordinary New Jersey families.  Unlike previous failed efforts to get more state funding, the focus of the "Nine Strong for a Stronger New Jersey" campaign is for the long term, said school officials.

The strategy of each institution fighting for state money on a year-to-year basis isn't working and the figures prove it, said Donald Farish, president of Rowan University in Glassboro.

Compared to other states, New Jersey ranks 32nd in higher education spending per capita, 43rd in higher education spending as a percentage of general spending and last in higher education funding increases between fiscal years 2006 and 2008, according to reports by the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities.

The higher education discussion must be framed as an economic one, namely that continued funding cuts will hamstring the state's ability to compete, Farish said.  New Jersey already leads the nation in loss of college-bound students, with more than 35,000 New Jersey students attending out-of-state schools, mainly because there are no spots available for them at in-state institutions, officials said.

"The link between economic strength and economic competitiveness is higher education," Farish said.  "These nine state colleges and universities want the public to know that our role is to help make sure New Jersey's future is stronger and more secure."

ASCU and its nine member institutions developed the New Jersey College Promise Action Network, an effort to link current students, alumni, parents, staff, educators and business people who care about the state's higher education via the Internet and inspire them to advocate for more funding and legislation that will help the schools. 

Peter Mercer, president of Ramapo College of New Jersey in Mahwah, called the action network among the most ambitious efforts to date.  Together, the schools have about 95,000 students and 500,000 alumni.  Mercer and his fellow college presidents said those numbers will continue growing since the nine institutions award almost half of all bachelor's degrees in New Jersey annually.

The nine college presidents themselves joined in the effort Tuesday, signing a pledge to find more state and private funding, build more student housing, structure degree programs that help students graduate in four years, improve workforce development through better business partnerships, and follow up on graduates' employment status one year after graduation.

"We have come here today to show the people of New Jersey that higher education in our state is thriving, growing and now focusing on the challenges presently before us," said R. Barbara Gitenstein, president of The College of New Jersey in Ewing.