newjerseynewsroom.com

BY JOHN L. McGOLDRICK

COMMENTARY

The New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities (ASCU) sponsored a recent poll of likely voters by an independent nationally recognized firm. The poll's findings demonstrate a stark gap between what New Jersey citizens expect of their government and the state's dismal record of lack of support for its state colleges.

Why, citizens ask, is New Jersey laudably close to the top in the nation in support of K-12 education, yet shamefully close to the bottom in support of its state colleges and universities? Poll responses clearly show a belief that New Jersey's state colleges and universities add great value to our citizens, to our economy, and to our state's long term future. New Jerseyans get what the problem is — lack of support these institutions receive from the state. Two-thirds of our citizens, as this poll shows, believe state support for our students at state colleges and universities is insufficient and should be increased.

Voters say that the state colleges and universities are important to New Jersey and to its economic future. Among the particulars: 86% say the colleges are important to keeping good jobs in New Jersey and 79% say they are important to keeping families in New Jersey. Better than eight out of ten (82%) say the colleges do a good or excellent job of providing education (64% good and 18% excellent).

The "job well-done" rating is noteworthy when you consider that a large majority of likely voters tend to underestimate the number of NJ residents the colleges serve — while overestimating the actual cost of tuition and fees. Despite the fact that more than 90% of students from state colleges and universities are from New Jersey, most surveyed think that 30% of students are from other states. We also learned that even though state college tuition and educational fees average $11,000 for a full time student, most citizens over-estimate tuition and fees, reckoning that they are $15,000-$20,000 or more.

Likely voters support an agenda to improve higher education opportunity. By a wide margin, they support expansion of capacity at the state colleges and universities to do the following: give students choice (92%); to retain more of New Jersey's brightest (82%); and to create new jobs and businesses and expand the state economy (86%).

While, unsurprisingly, taxes, jobs and the economy topped the list of likely voters' concerns in our poll, the strong response in favor of higher education opportunity points to the need for the governor and legislature to put forth a positive agenda to support public higher education and to slow the exodus of well-educated students from New Jersey. Addressing the loss of students will require a long-term change in policy, more freedom from costly Trenton regulation, and a state agenda that more explicitly ties college opportunity to the long-term economic well-being of New Jersey.

According to the independent poll, as any state plans to improve higher education opportunity proceed, voters want to see much of the authority for decision making vested with the individual college and university presidents and trustee boards. When asked whom they would trust more to secure college opportunity and to account for investment of public dollars, New Jerseyans overwhelmingly (4 to 1) chose college/university presidents and nonpartisan boards of trustees to accomplish these goals without political intrusion.

At Montclair State University, where I serve as a trustee, we see tremendous demand for affordable, high quality higher education. The demand comes from recent high school graduates; from transfer students who attended local community colleges; from students leaving higher-priced, but disappointing, out-of-state colleges; and from veterans and other adult students ready to return to college to reach higher goals.

The state colleges and universities are doing the best they can, within the limits of their budgets and state regulatory constraints, to improve educational facilities, to keep current regarding technology, to accommodate growing demand for academic and student-life services, and to raise private money to fund improvements amidst diminishing state funding.

New Jerseyans, and especially the Garden State's decision makers, would do well to digest the compelling facts from this independent poll. New Jersey state college and university students-the more than 100,000 of whom are going to class as you read this and the hundreds of thousands who will want to follow after them-deserve better than New Jersey has yet given them.

John McGoldrick is Chair of NJ Association of State Colleges & Universities and a Trustee of Montclair State University. He is Chair of the Board of Zimmer Holdings, and has been Senior Vice President of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, Executive Vice President of Bristol-Myers Squibb, Senior Partner of McCarter & English, and a Member of the Visiting Committees of Harvard College and the Harvard School of Public Health. He lives in Princeton.

Notes on the poll: The New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities (ASCU) poll of 671 likely voters was conducted by an independent, nationally recognized firm (Penn, Schoen & Berland Associates) between September 30 and October 5. The poll consisted of online interviews about New Jersey state colleges and universities and issues central to the Garden State's future. Its margin of error is +/- 3.78 at the 95% confidence level. More information is available at www.njascu.org.