newjerseynewsroom.com

University's board of governors approves $2 billion budget

Citing "a sigificant cut" in direct state aid, Rutgers has raised tuition, this time 4 percent and more, for the 2010-11.

The action came as the university's board of governors approved a $2 billion budget with a salary freeze for 13,000 employees.

The latest annual hike means Rutgers' tuition for New Jersey undergraduates has increased 89 percent since the 2001-02 academic year, to an average of $9,926.

When mandatory fees are tacked on, the picture gets even worse. The new average for in-state undergraduates will be $12,559, an increase of more than 98 percent during a decade.

The governors also found another hole in the new state cap, intended at 4 percent on tuitions for state colleges and universities. By imposing a $200 "capital improvement fee," they raised charges for undergraduates living on campus to $23,465, about $1,200 or 5.4 percent.

Rutgers will charge graduate students $600 a credit, a 4 percent hike. But tuition for out-of-state undergraduates will jump 6 percent, to $21,388.

Last year, the College Board reported that nationally, public colleges charged an average of $7,020 in tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates, and $18,548 for those from out of state. In the Middle Atlantic states, costs for in-state students were higher than average while those for out-of-state were lower, the report found.

The last round of Rutgers hikes come when many states are cutting support for education to cope with budget problems stemming from the financial meltdown by major banks and brokerage houses.

For many states, the resulting Great Recession has hurt tax revenues as well as the value of investments held by government agencies. But it also means many students and their families are struggling economically.

As the Rutgers budget was passed, the U.S. Department of Labor reported that first-time unemployment claims in New Jersey rose 32 percent in the week ending July 3, the highest level in 19 years. Officials were at a loss to explain the surge, although the national economy remains week.

The Rutgers governors added $3.5 million in aid for low-income students. University officials described that as "essential" following state cuts in the tuition aid grant and educational opportunity fund, which normally assist thousands of students.

The recession has "severely limited state government's ability to provide adequate funding for New Jersey's public universities and colleges, and exacerbated a long-term trend in declining state support for higher education in the Garden State," Ruters President Richard L. McCormick said in a press release.

— JOE TYRRELL, NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM