Voters Say College Opportunity is Important - and Trust College Leaders to Provide It
ASCU:  Heeding Results Could Help Candidates for Governor

 

October 8, 2009

 

Contact:  ASCU:  Darryl G. Greer or Paul Shelly (609) 989-1100

               Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, LLC:  Robert Green, Principal (202) 962-3049

 

An agenda supporting state college opportunity and affordability, tied to jobs and keeping talent in New Jersey, could help candidates for governor.  While more than half of New Jersey's likely voters say that education, including higher education, is a very important issue to them, one-third have not formed an opinion about which of the three major candidates for governor has the best plan for college opportunity and affordability in the Garden State.

 

This is one among several conclusions reached by the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities (ASCU) which sponsored a poll conducted between September 30 and October 5 by Washington, DC-based Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates.  The poll consisted of online interviewed about New Jersey's nine state colleges and universities, conducted with 671 likely gubernatorial election voters in New Jersey.  The margin of error for the entire sample is +/- 3.78 at the 95% confidence level.

 

The Association's CEO, Dr. Darryl G. Greer said today, "it' is noteworthy that in these very challenging economic times, likely voters say that public colleges/universities are important to individual opportunity; to jobs; to keeping talent and families together in New Jersey; and they are willing to invest more in college facilities; and trust college leaders to account for investment money more prudently than the state."  He pointed out that the majority of likely voters, consistent with results of prior ASCU scientific polls, say the state colleges and universities are doing a good to excellent job.

 

"The poll results indicate that voters are likely to favor a strong plan for state college and university opportunity that fits in with the Garden State's future economic prosperity," Greer said.

 

Politics and priorities.  Education and higher education were listed as very important to 53% of likely voters, behind issues such as:  taxes (86%), health care (61%), and corruption in state government (75%); but ahead of transportation and highways (34%).

 

Asked which of the candidates had the best plan for college opportunity and higher education affordability, 34% were not able to name one of the three major candidates.  The Corzine-Weinberg team were selected by 33%; the Christie-Guadagno team by 24%; the Daggett-Esposito team by 9%.

 

Asked whom they planned to vote for in the upcoming election, 43% named the Christie-Guadagno team; 38% the Corzine-Weinberg team; 16% the Dagget-Esposito team (and 3% other).

 

Importance of, and quality of, education at New Jersey state colleges and universities.

 

n	86% said the colleges are important to keeping good jobs in New Jersey (44% very important; 42% somewhat important);
n	79% said the colleges are important to keeping NJ families in New Jersey (37% very important; 42% important);
n	91% said they have a favorable view of the NJ state colleges and universities (32% very favorable; 59% somewhat favorable);
n	Very favorable ratings were 37% among those with children under 25.
n	82% said the nine New Jersey state colleges and universities (The College of New Jersey, Kean University, Montclair State University, New Jersey City University, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Rowan University, Thomas Edison State College and William Paterson University) do a good or excellent job at providing education to students (18% excellent; 64% good).

 

Control over colleges, accountability and trust.  More than four out of five (81%) agree that less government bureaucracy and less state regulation would help the colleges and universities be more efficient and serve more students.

 

Nearly four out of five (79%) agree that if the state is going to invest more money to support higher education and serve more New Jersey students, nonpartisan boards of trustees and the presidents should make the decision, as opposed to "letting the governor decide how to spend the money" (11%), or "letting state agencies in Trenton decide how to spend the money" (10%).

 

Similarly, seven out of ten (71%) say that, when it comes to future progress on college affordability, quality and accountability, they trust state college/university presidents and their nonpartisan trustee boards, as opposed to the governor (12%) or legislature (7%).

 

A majority of likely voters think that if Trenton had more control over state colleges and universities the result would be less, not greater, college opportunity (56% said less; 44% said greater).  On the question of whether more Trenton control would make state colleges subject to less or more political interference, a large majority (87%) agreed that it would make them more subject to such interference.

 

Student enrollment and capacity, ties to the economy.  Many likely voters mistakenly think that state colleges serve large numbers of out-of-state residents.  Only 16% said they thought the colleges enroll fewer than 10% out-of-state students -- which is the case.  39% said the percentage of out-of-state students was 11-20%; 33% said it was 21-30%; 12% said it is 31% or more; 2% think it is 41% or more.

 

Likely voters support the need to expand college capacity:  92% agree that NJ students should have the opportunity to live on campus at the state college or university of their choice; 82% agree that expanding capacity will help keep NJ's brightest students here; 86% agree that expanding college access will help create new jobs and businesses and expand NJ's economy.

 

College affordability and tuition trend lines, causes.  Likely voters are split about whether the cost of education at the nine state colleges is affordable.  Very affordable was listed by 9%; somewhat affordable 43%; not very affordable 38%; and not at all affordable 10%.

 

While NJ now has among the highest average public college/university tuition/fees in the nation, a majority (55%) of citizens surveyed overestimate the actual cost of tuition and fees, responding $15,000-$20,000 or more.  The actual average tuition and educational fees for the state colleges and universities, for a full-time student, is about $11,000.  This finding tracks earlier research in New Jersey, and nationally, that indicate that families overestimate the cost of public higher education.

 

Responsibility for tuition increases.  Likely voters do not hold colleges responsible for tuition increases.  45% think it is the bad economy and state budget cuts; 19% attribute it to rising costs of new programs and technology; another 19% believe the cause is state mandated costs and regulation.  Only 18% believe that it is the inability of colleges to cut back on spending.

 

Financial aid.  41% indicate that financial aid for students at state colleges and universities is available to most students; 59% say that it is not.

 

70% say financial aid "benefits others, but not me and my family;" while 31% say financial aid "benefits people like me and my family."

 

ASCU believes that this perspective, also confirmed by prior polls, holds a message for elected officials about not over-promising on student financial aid gimmicks that citizens perceive will not help them.  Instead, according to ASCU, they should stick to strengthening and broadening existing effective programs.

 

Need for state investment.  When asked whether the current NJ funding for a college student (about half what is spent per student in K-12) is appropriate, only about one-third surveyed (34%) agreed.  Two-thirds (66%) think that spending on college students should be greater than it is now.

 

Similarly, when asked whether the state should have a plan to invest in higher education facilities (it currently has none), in light of the state's current investment of $3.9 billion in K-12 construction, 77% of likely voters agreed that the state should plan to spend somewhere between $1.3 and $3.9 billion on higher education facilities over the next decade.

 

ASCU is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization created in 1985.  Its members are:  The College of New Jersey, Kean University, Montclair State University, New Jersey City University, Ramapo College of New Jersey, Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Rowan University, Thomas Edison State College and William Paterson University.

 

The Association has sponsored numerous scientific polls of New Jersey residents and NJ likely voters over the past decade, conducted by Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates, a leading national independent polling firm.