Last spring, college students across the state held rallies and protests on their campuses calling for a tuition freeze. It didn’t work. Undergraduate tuition and fees will go up between 1 percent and 7.4 percent at New Jersey’s four-year colleges for the 2011-12 school year, according to a Star-Ledger survey of two dozen public and private schools. Among the...
Incoming TCNJ freshman Jillian Wesley, right, of Florence, carries her pet hamster "Chad" up the stairs to her dorm room in Cromwell Hall, followed by her friend Anthony Szamba. Aug. 11 was freshman move-in day for the class of 2015.Last spring, college students across the state held rallies and protests on their campuses calling for a tuition freeze.
It didn’t work.
Undergraduate tuition and fees will go up between 1 percent and 7.4 percent at New Jersey’s four-year colleges for the 2011-12 school year, according to a Star-Ledger survey of two dozen public and private schools.
Among the public colleges, annual in-state tuition and mandatory fees will range from $10,021 at New Jersey City University to $14,187 at the College of New Jersey in Ewing, according to the survey. At the private colleges, tuition and fees will range from $23,700 at Bloomfield College to $41,004 at Drew University in Madison. Room, board and books can add $10,000 or more to the final bill.
Unlike last year, when Gov. Chris Christie and the state Legislature capped tuition increases at the four-year public colleges at 4 percent, schools were free to set their own tuition rates this year.
Though none of the public or private colleges froze tuition, many said they heard students’ pleas to hold down costs. Rutgers University, Princeton University and William Paterson University are among the schools instituting their lowest tuition and fee increases in decades.
"We’re mindful of what’s going on in terms of the state and the national economy," said John Martone, vice president for student development at William Paterson University in Wayne, where the 2 percent tuition and fee hike was the school’s lowest in 30 years.
Students at other colleges — including Georgian Court University, Monmouth University, Ramapo College and New Jersey City University — will see their tuition and fee bills go up 6 percent or 7 percent. School officials said they were forced to ask undergraduates for more money to help cover perennial issues, including rising health care costs for employees, building maintenance, faculty salary increases and state funding cuts.
At Ramapo, part of this year’s 7.4 percent tuition and fee hike is a temporary $1,000 capital facilities fee to help cover construction costs. The fee, which has been in place for three years, will be eliminated next year.
"It is dedicated solely for capital projects, and we are in dire need of improvements to our physical plant, including a new roof for our academic complex — which is 40 years old — upgrades to our science labs and a new HVAC system for our student center," said Anna Farneski, a Ramapo spokeswoman.
AMONG COSTLIEST IN U.S.
Students carry belongings in the rain on TCNJ freshman move-in day for the class of 2015.New Jersey’s colleges and universities continue to rank among the most expensive in the country. Last year, the average tuition and fees at public four-year colleges was $7,605, according to a study by the College Board. At private colleges, the average tuition and fees were $27,293.
This year, The Star-Ledger analysis found 18 of the 24 New Jersey colleges surveyed raised tuition and fees higher than the current national inflation rate, which is 3.6 percent.
The Star-Ledger survey included only the state’s traditional four-year colleges. The University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and Thomas Edison State College in Trenton were not included because they charge varying rates based on what a student is studying.
The survey also did not include the state’s for-profit colleges. Those schools, which include the University of Phoenix, DeVry University and Berkeley College, do not operate on traditional semester formats, making it difficult to compare their costs with other colleges’.
At the University of Phoenix, the average undergraduate will pay about $12,000 a year in tuition and fees, the same as last year, a spokesman said. At Berkeley College, which has four campuses in New Jersey, the average undergraduate will pay $21,750 annually, a 5 percent increase, a spokeswoman said.
STUDENTS PUSH BACK
TCNJ Tri Sigma sorority members help carry incoming freshmen's belongings to Travers and Wolfe Residence Halls this morning under threatening skies on freshman move-in day for the class of 2015.At Rutgers, the state’s largest university, students staged a series of protests and a sit-in in the Old Queens administration building in the spring to call for a tuition freeze. The state university’s board of governors didn’t freeze tuition, but it did slash a planned tuition hike in half last month.
Students, however, said even a 1.6 percent tuition and fee increase was still too high for many undergraduates whose families are struggling in the poor economy. At the Rutgers tuition hike meeting last month, Kristen Clarke, the sole student representative on the Rutgers Board of Governors, noted student debt rates are soaring at Rutgers and nationwide.
"There were students who were so passionate about the debt that they were taking on that they locked themselves in Old Queens for 38 hours to make a stand and tell the university that enough is enough. We students can’t pay this anymore," said Clarke, a senior political science major.
At Drew University, the state’s costliest school, spokesman David Muha said students need to consider what they’re getting for their tuition.
"College is really an investment, not an expense, and it’s probably the best investment a parent can make in their child," Muha said. "At Drew, part of what you’re getting in return is smaller class sizes and more contact with full professors — things that can really make a difference in the overall quality of the education and the places each student goes in their life."
Students carry their belongings while an adult, right snaps a photo on TCNJ freshman move-in day for the class of 2015.Related coverage:
• Rutgers University board raises tuition 1.8 percent, half of the school president's proposed hike
• Rutgers students extend sit-in protest against tuition costs to second day
• Rutgers University students protest tuition hikes with sit-in inside administrative building
• Rutgers University board approves tuition, fee hike in $2B budget plan