NJ – JERSEY CITY In solidarity with workers and students, the Jersey City Council passed a resolution asking the state of New Jersey to support New Jersey City University as per (source)
Early this month, AFT Local 1839, CWA Local 1031, and IFPTE Local 195 conducted a rally at the institution to demand state support to help the university overcome some of its problems.
NJCU is experiencing a financial problem. According to union officials, if state underfunding continues, the diverse student body serviced by this public university would lose crucial educational opportunities.
“New Jersey City University has a long-standing commitment to promoting higher education and ensuring that education is available to as wide a population as feasible,” according to the council resolution. “For almost a century, NJCU has been crucial to education in Jersey City, providing thousands of our residents with high-quality, low-cost public education.”
The resolution stated that students at NJCU graduate with the lowest rate of debt of any other school in New Jersey. This is because of the university’s Department-Free Promise programme, which ensures that every student graduates with a clean financial slate and can begin their professional lives without financial constraints.
According to the resolution, 76% of in-state undergraduate commuting students at the colleges paid less than $1,000 to enrol in the Fall 2021 semester.
“NJCU has been a beacon of achievement for first-generation students in this great city of immigrants by bringing education and, with it, economic and social mobility within reach,” the resolution stated.
According to its advocates, NJCU boasts the most socioeconomically diverse student population of any public university in the state, and it is the state’s oldest running minority/Hispanic institution of higher education.
According to the resolution, the university has also played an important role as an anchor institution in spurring investment on Jersey City’s West Side to develop brownfields and blighted areas into places of economic stimulation, while ensuring that the character and people who call the West Side are honoured and supported.
The resolution stated, “The COVID pandemic substantially damaged NJCU, forcing the university to lose 1,300 students between fall 2020 and spring 2022, significantly increasing the school’s financial crisis.” “The loss of this important institution will have far-reaching ramifications for the people of Jersey City, Hudson County, and New Jersey as a whole.”