No costs yet on union of Rowan, Rutgers

By Jason Method, Statehouse Bureau.

TRENTON — New Jersey’s higher education chief declined Tuesday to provide estimates for how much it will cost to reorganize the state’s universities to reorganize under a plan being pushed by Gov. Chris Christie.

“To answer the question, “What will it cost?” the administration has been working with the universities on the financial aspect of this plan for months,” Rochelle Hendricks, appointed by Christie to lead higher education policy, told the state Senate Budget Committee.

Hendricks, however, did not offer any number. She said the administration has brought in outside legal, financial and planning experts to study the plan.

Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Bergen, chairman of the budget committee, parried with Hendricks over the cost during the hearing and later suggested to reporters that he believed an estimate would be needed before the plan could go forward.

“If we’re not getting the numbers by July 1, we’re not voting by July 1,” he said. But Sarlo stopped short of issuing an ultimatum, and he declined to say whether he would hold up the state budget over the issue.

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