FINAL WORDS Ninth in a series
As The Journal prepares to end publication Feb. 1, we take a final look back at important Hudson County issues, controversies and people.
It’s down to two potential partners for New Jersey City University.
The Jersey City school struggling to solve a massive financial crisis will certainly lose some of its identity when it merges with another of the state’s public universities. But it will also keep some of it, too.
Local officials are working to make sure that identity ― as a school that serves Hudson County’s low-income minority community ― remains intact.
The end-of-March deadline to select a financially sound university to partner with is just two months away and sources have confirmed it’s down to Montclair State University and Kean University. Henry Amoroso, the monitor appointed by the state in the wake of the school’s fiscal miscues, recommended a partnership and state higher education officials told the school to put a plan in motion.
The school, part of the state-university system, put itself in this position with a series of poor planning decisions that resulted in the announcement of a financial emergency in June 2022. Then-President Sue Henderson abruptly resigned amid the news that the school was carrying a $22.7 million operating deficit.
A declining enrollment, drastic austerity measures, $300 million in long-term debt, desperate need of state aid and decades-long infrastructure issues led to the decision by state officials that NJCU would only survive if it had a partner.
Kean and Montclair State (MSU) officials told The Jersey Journal they submitted proposals that will be presented to the NJCU Board of Trustees, possibly in February.
Kean officials were mum on its plans, but several insiders with knowledge of the talks said NJCU would be absorbed into the university as “Kean Jersey City.” The Union County institution has $150 million of cash on hand.
Meanwhile, MSU officials hinted that their proposal makes NJCU “more than just a satellite campus for its school,” maintaining the Jersey City school’s identity.
MSU President Jonathan Koppell sees a “commonality” between the schools, saying they serve similar student populations and are committed to “accessibility, affordability, equity, socio-economic mobility, and holistic student development (academic, personal, and professional), while prioritizing civic engagement.”
Koppell said MSU’s primary focus would be student improvement. NJCU’s four-year graduation rate was 20% and one-year retention rate of full-time freshman 73% as of 2022.
“We believe this can be achieved while maintaining NJCU’s culture and identity,” Koppell said. “We are not proposing making NJCU a Montclair satellite campus. Rather, it will be focused on providing an educated workforce that serves Jersey City’s and Hudson County’s needs.”
Koppell recognizes the need to retain a higher education presence in Jersey City and Hudson County. He touts the school’s experience in mergers while meeting the needs of students and the community in a fiscally responsible way.
MSU merged with financially stressed Bloomfield College, a private college, in 2023 and renamed it Bloomfield College of Montclair State University.
Kean spokeswoman Karen Smith did not respond to a request for details, but stated, “Kean is uniquely positioned to support New Jersey City University’s students and strengthen its vital connection to the Jersey City community.”
“Our response reflects Kean’s leadership and innovation in adapting to the evolving landscape of higher education, both here in New Jersey and beyond,” Smith said.
Koppell highlighted Montclair State’s 81% first-time undergraduate retention rate and 65% graduation rate, which has resulted in students being “able to transform them and their families’ lives.”
A source with knowledge of the proposals told The Jersey Journal Gov. Phil Murphy has deferred the selection to Hudson County’s three senators, Raj Mukherji, Angela McKnight and Brian Stack. According to the source, Murphy’s circle believes consolidation is the only “realistic outcome for NJCU.”
The governor’s office denied claims from the source on Friday and directed The Jersey Journal to the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education for information about the process.
The final decision will be made once the overall costs of each proposal is determined.
NJCU interim President Andres Acebo and Board of Trustees President Luke Visconti declined interview requests. School spokesman Ira Thor said university officials have been involved in a “series of productive discussions and site visits with potential partner institutions” in the past few months.
“No final decisions have been made,” Thor said. “As the board contemplates the next steps, NJCU continues to prioritize engagement and communication with its students, faculty, staff, and members of the broader community. Input from NJCU’s campus community will be crucial to informing the implementation of any potential partnership.”
It is still unclear at this moment how the partnerships will affect current NJCU staffers and students.
Another insider has speculated the merger may include Thomas Edison State University (TESU), a primarily online school that is also facing financial hardships.
Kean’s student population stands at 17,000, while Montclair State has more than 22,500 students, according to the universities. NJCU is small in comparison, with roughly 5,500 students.
NJCU is the least expensive of the three schools, at $14,459 for in-state students, which includes books. Kean’s tuition and fees are $14,300 in-state and MSU is $15,900.
State Sen. Raj Mukherji, a long-time NJCU advocate, had hoped an influx of state aid would allow the school to remain on its own.
“But if consolidation is the only feasible avenue to maintaining this critical option for social and economic mobility for so many first-generation college students, then I am confident that Kean or Montclair would be strong partners and would respect the need for some autonomy for the Jersey City campus,” Mukherji said.
McKnight is confident from her various discussions with state stakeholders, “NJCU can chart a path forward through this transitional period.”
“I fully support maintaining the integrity, identity, and mission of NJCU to ensure the success of its students,” McKnight said. “We must ensure that if a merger is part of that path, the essence of NJCU is preserved for its diverse student base and instills an environment for its students and faculty to thrive.”
Mukherji noted that undergrad enrollment and transfer enrollment are both on the rise and both Fitch and Moody’s have upgraded NJCU’s credit rating.
“Acebo has been artfully implementing the turnaround plan,” Mukherji said.
Stack could not be reached for comment.
Nearly 50% of the university’s student body comes from Hudson County, according to the school’s 36-page strategic enrollment plan. Many of the local students who attend NJCU come from low-income, first-generation families and have selected the school due to its low cost and location.
Jersey City Schools Superintendent Norma Fernandez said a sizable amount of the district’s 27,000 students fit that criteria and can’t afford to go elsewhere. Many of them play vital roles in their families, whether as a translator for their parents, helping with finances or a babysitter for younger siblings, so they need to be close to home, Fernandez said.
“NJCU has realized who is their biggest audience and that is people in Hudson County,” Fernandez said. “So how do you recruit and retain those students? They really set out to create programs that meet that environment.”
Fernandez noted more than 9,300 families in the district identify another language as a primary language, the largest being Spanish and Arabic, and 70% are eligible for free and reduced lunch programs.
NJCU announced in June 2022 that it was facing a financial emergency with a $22.7 million operating deficit. The university spent the next year establishing austerity measures, including cutting its academic portfolio by 33% to eliminate the operating deficit.
With $10 million in additional aid from the state came the fiscal monitor Amoroso, a “turnaround specialist” who spent six months scouring the school’s finances before recommending the school needed a partner and new dedicated board members. He also said the school needs to eliminate at least $30 million of its $300 million long-term debt and a plan to address capital infrastructure.
The university has $51 million in critical maintenance needs that officials say have been neglected since the late 1960s. In Amoroso’s report, the institution and its potential partner need to make “targeted” capital investments of $20 million by 2026.
Although requests to interview Amoroso and state Higher Education Secretary Brian Bridges were denied, spokeswoman Cecilia Williams said “The secretary is encouraged by NJCU’s progress under the deliberative process of the state monitor, university administration, and board of trustees, consistent with the requirements of the transition plan.”
Bad real estate investments, an ill-timed decision to beef up sports programming, the COVID-19 pandemic and a dip in enrollment were a “perfect storm” for the school’s financial emergency.
NJCU Faculty Senate President Francis Moran, who has been at the school 34 years, says the change in administration during the financial emergency allowed the school to refocus on serving the community, a principle “that got lost for a while.”
During Henderson’s tenure, the school was focused on real estate expansions and bringing in international students to fill the void of declining students, he said.
“I know we are still not out of the woods, but I don’t feel we are in as deep of a crisis mode as we were,” Moran said about the school since the financial crisis.
As for the school’s future, Moran hopes whatever institution emerges from these potential partnerships remains “focused on the core population” the institution serves in Hudson County.
“I think either of those partners are similarly committed to that idea,” Moran said. “I would like to just make sure that (NJCU) is still here (in the next five years).”
The school has changed its name over the years (from New Jersey State Teachers College at Jersey City to Jersey City State College to NJCU), “but it is the institution and the availability of courses and classes that is important,” Fernandez said
“Names change with time, but it is really the opportunity that is vital to the community,” Fernandez said.
This story has been updated to include a response from Gov. Phil Murphy’s office.