Gov. Phil Murphy plans to slash $20 million in state funding to community colleges. Educators, college administrators and students say this budget reduction would devastate students and the higher education community.
“That cut will have significant negative impacts on our colleges,” said Dr. Aaron Fichtner, president of the New Jersey Council of County Colleges. “Colleges will be forced to raise tuition, to cut programs, to cut services … our colleges are going to be struggling to make some very tough decisions that are going to have real impacts on students.”
As it now stands, state aid should account for a third of community college funding in the Garden State. Another third is supposed to come from the county or counties the colleges serve. The remainder of the funding should come from student tuition.
