2022_09_New_Jersey_Monthly
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A SHRINKING POOL OF STUDENTS<br />
About one in five undergraduates and one in three graduate<br />
students in the state is enrolled in one of the 16 private, nonprofit,<br />
four-year colleges. Enrollment in these schools dropped from a<br />
peak of more than 79,000 in 20<strong>09</strong> to under 64,000 in fall 2021, a<br />
decline of about 20 percent, according to the state Office of the<br />
Secretary of Higher Education. The baby bust that started during<br />
the 2008 recession means that the pool of 18-year-olds—the<br />
traditional college freshmen—is about to shrink further.<br />
Enrollment at the most selective schools—Princeton University<br />
and Stevens Institute of Technology—is<br />
buoyed by demand. The larger of the<br />
“<br />
schools—Fairleigh Dickinson and Seton<br />
Hall universities—generally have more<br />
resources to absorb enrollment declines.<br />
But the smaller schools—from Bloomfield,<br />
with an enrollment of 1,300, to<br />
Monmouth University, with about 5,400<br />
students—often have the hardest time because<br />
they are more reliant on tuition than<br />
are their public counterparts. Cuts were<br />
not uncommon during the pandemic. Monmouth,<br />
for example, implemented a hiring<br />
freeze, suspended capital projects, and reduced<br />
spending and administrative salaries.<br />
This year’s state budget increased operating<br />
aid to the private schools from $7<br />
million to $10.5 million, and individual<br />
schools received millions more in state<br />
grants. The sector also received $161<br />
million in state and federal pandemicrelated<br />
aid, according to the Independent<br />
Colleges and Universities of <strong>New</strong> <strong>Jersey</strong>,<br />
which represents the schools. But the<br />
schools are likely to face a more difficult<br />
financial situation in 2023, analysts at<br />
Moody’s predict.<br />
LOOKING FOR REMEDIES<br />
The Bloomfield-Montclair agreement is perhaps the boldest of<br />
remedies to date. Founded by Presbyterians as a German theological<br />
school in 1868, Bloomfield is essentially a secular liberal<br />
arts school now, serving a predominantly Black and Hispanic<br />
student body. Affiliation with Montclair, a public university with<br />
20,000 students, will give Bloomfield financial stability and additional<br />
programming. Montclair will gain a downtown campus<br />
about 6 miles away from its suburban location.<br />
“Obviously, the geography makes a lot of sense, and we are<br />
committed to maintaining and enhancing the legacy of Bloomfield.<br />
We have similar missions of creating accessible high-quality<br />
education,” Montclair president Jonathan Koppell tells <strong>New</strong><br />
<strong>Jersey</strong> <strong>Monthly</strong>.<br />
During this coming year, the two schools will hash out the<br />
details of a more permanent arrangement, “such as a merger or<br />
an affiliation,” according to a statement from the schools.<br />
Many small schools around the country are looking for partnerships.<br />
Two in the Philadelphia area, the University of the<br />
Sciences and St. Joseph’s University, recently merged, giving<br />
“OVERALL these<br />
small colleges<br />
are very resilient.<br />
They’ve got a lot of<br />
stakeholders who<br />
are interested in<br />
their success,<br />
including some<br />
who may be in state<br />
government. In<br />
some cases, these<br />
[schools] are important<br />
economic drivers<br />
in their area.”<br />
—Susan Fitzgerald<br />
Associate managing director, Moody’s<br />
the latter more science and technology offerings. “If you have<br />
something to offer a larger university, it’s attractive,” says Lawrence<br />
Ladd, senior consultant with the Association of Governing<br />
Boards of Universities and Colleges. “It’s usually location or<br />
programming or both.”<br />
Other schools have sought to raise funds by selling real estate,<br />
including Drew University in Madison, which has proposed the sale<br />
of 53 acres of its iconic, leafy campus. Proceeds would “go directly<br />
to improving the strength of Drew’s endowment, which provides<br />
scholarships and academic opportunities to our students,” Drew<br />
president Thomas J. Schwarz tells <strong>New</strong> <strong>Jersey</strong><br />
<strong>Monthly</strong>. Local environmental groups<br />
are advocating that the land be purchased<br />
for conservation.<br />
Georgian Court University in Lakewood,<br />
where enrollment is down more<br />
than 11 percent since 2019, recently announced<br />
an agreement to sell 42 acres of<br />
its 150-acre campus to a nearby yeshiva,<br />
with plans to use part of the proceeds to<br />
build a new nursing and health sciences<br />
center and to create a student center.<br />
GENEROUS AID PACKAGES<br />
Students and their families often believe<br />
that private-school tuition—even with<br />
aid—can’t compete with public options.<br />
But experts say students need to “look<br />
beyond the sticker price.”<br />
Most of the schools offer generous aid<br />
packages that slash the cost of attending,<br />
”<br />
says Steve Reynolds, president of the Independent<br />
Colleges and Universities of<br />
<strong>New</strong> <strong>Jersey</strong>. Reynolds and others extoll the<br />
benefits of the small colleges, especially for<br />
students seeking small classes and close<br />
relationships with faculty.<br />
Being at a smaller school meant a lot to Andrew Bernstein, 21,<br />
a senior majoring in political science at Rider, where he leveraged<br />
the school’s Rebovich Institute for <strong>New</strong> <strong>Jersey</strong> Politics to find<br />
internships. “They opened a lot of doors,” Bernstein, of Freehold,<br />
says. “I had a list going in [to college] of things I wanted to do. I<br />
have been able to do those things, and then some.”<br />
“They offer a different experience than, say, a community college,<br />
which can be transactional,” says Ladd, from the national<br />
governing association. “These colleges offer a fuller experience.<br />
You’re more likely to live in a residence hall; there is much more<br />
interaction with peers and faculty,” he says. “The difficulty right<br />
now is, less people are willing to pay for it.”<br />
At Saint Peter’s, a Jesuit university with 3,000 students in<br />
<strong>Jersey</strong> City, no student pays the advertised $39,000 tuition, says<br />
president Eugene Cornacchia. Most qualify for state and federal<br />
aid and also receive institutional aid, thanks to a relatively robust<br />
donor base. The school’s fortunes were boosted this year by the<br />
success of the men’s basketball team, but the national attention<br />
has not yet translated into an enrollment hike, Cornacchia says.<br />
Cornacchia says Saint Peter’s small size makes it “more nimble...<br />
Continued on page 83<br />
SEPTEMBER <strong>2022</strong> NEW JERSEY MONTHLY 69