Rutgers president: School to cover $76.3M merger costs by curbing programs, putting off maintenance

By Anthony Campisi, State House Bureau, The Record.

Faced with a projected cost of more than $75 million to absorb the state’s public medical and dental school, Rutgers University has no alternative but to curtail programs and defer maintenance, its president, Robert L. Barchi, told lawmakers on Monday.

“We have no additional funds” to pay for Rutgers’ merger with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, he hold members of the Senate Budget Committee. He did not say which programs and projects the university would be forced to cut.

Governor Christie did not include any money in his proposed budget to cover the costs of the merger, which was mandated as part of a sweeping overhaul of New Jersey’s public higher education system. Christie and a bipartisan group of lawmakers have said the move will boost scientific research at Rutgers and enable it to attract significantly more research dollars.

Barchi said there was no money in Rutgers’ own budget to cover the cost of the merger, which he pegged at $76.3 million over the next 2½ years. The school is on track to complete the merger by the July 1 deadline, he added.

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