By Star-Ledger Editorial Board
Rutgers has done a commendable job containing increases in tuition and fees in an age of cutbacks in state aid – a Draconian wallop of 12 percent since Gov. Christie took office, if you consult the figures provided by the NJEA’s Higher Education Committee.
In fact, our State university’s tuition hikes over the last three fiscal years were a mere 1.6, 2.5, and 3.3 percent, which is not terribly unreasonable when compared with increases at the 10 other senior public schools.
Still, college costs are absurd, especially in New Jersey, which is near the bottom in state aid to higher ed on a per-capita basis. It costs more than $13,000 in tuition and fees at Rutgers for in-state residents, and if you think that’s affordable, your elders will remind you that they were able to go to school on what they earned on their summer jobs.
So when Robert Barchi implies that there will be another tuition hike to help defray the cost of the UMDNJ merger, we hope he is prepared for the inevitable blowback, because he’ll deserve it.
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