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[quote]
For the second consecutive year, Gov. Jon Corzine's budget plan slashes college scholarships for New Jersey's highest-achieving students, sparking fears that the state's brain drain will worsen. </p>
<p>Under the governor's proposal, the Outstanding Scholar Recruitment Program is slated to be cut by $3.2 million, despite studies that indicate it has swelled the number of top students choosing in-state, four-year colleges.... </p>
<p>A 2005 report by the Higher Education Student Assistance Authority found the number of top high school students choosing New Jersey colleges increased nearly 49 percent between 1997, when the program was created, and 2004..... </p>
<p>New Jersey loses more college students than any other state. Last year, 32,200 college-bound students left the state, while only 5,600 moved here, resulting in a net loss of about 27,000 students, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.
<p>Aren't they planning on raising tuition by about 8% for instate kids at the same time? Frankly, our schools are very expensive for most NJ residents. It is not just the poor family struggling to pay these bills. The brightest students will probably get as good of a deal, or better deal elsewhere than instate, IMO.</p>
<p>new jersey just doesn't have a good higher education system. although i think the article is a bit misleading in the part where it talks about NJ losing the most amount of students. Jersey doesn't have many schools and has a huge population, and when the best school after Princeton (which may get as many as...what 50 kids from new jersey a year?) is TCNJ/Rutgers/Drew then you realize why top students leave. Who wants to come to New Jersey when you could go to better ones in New York and Pennsylvania?</p>
<p>Also, New Jersey is very wealthy and I believe most kids can afford to go elsewhere than the public schools in the state.</p>
<p>It has been, and will continue to be, very hard for me to recommend attending a NJ state school when you don't know if your program, classes, sport or scholarship will be cut during the next 4 years. </p>
<p>The timing of this announcement is "ok" for kids who have applied to numerous out of state schools rd, but what about the kids who applied ed to Rutgers or TCNJ?</p>
<p>Add to the OSRP cut the absurdity of saying that an acceptable alternative is the STARS program, which offers free community college attendance to everyone in the top 20 percent of any HS class. That adds insult to injury as far as I am concerned. </p>
<p>Incidentally, it is all very well to say NJ is very wealthy and people can afford to go elsewhere, but "wealth" is a very general and often misused term in education and political circles, especially in NJ. A family of four earning what sounds like a "wealthy" income is not exactly skiing in Aspen every year and certainly deserves to be able to benefit from tuition breaks in some way other than attending a county college for two years. Keep in mind too that NJ has the highest property taxes in the state, and they are used to fund public schools, so the "wealthy" are essentially experiencing double jepoardy--pay a lot to live and in the state, get little back in terms of higher ed (and in some cases not much in the way of elementary or secondary ed either). it is really time for demagogues to stop playing games about the "wealthy" in New Jersey and adding additional tax burdens and financial punishments for those whose hard work is funding the state in the first place.</p>
<p>jags, additionally that B+ kid with 1300/1950 SATs cannot even get into our tiny TCNJ if they come from one of the better public hs in our state. There are so many kids in NJ and not enough seats at TCNJ. I can tell you that from our hs only one kid got in, and that was not without some additional work from our GC. I don't care for the Rutgers NB bus system or class sizes, and the Newark campus cannot offer much in the way of housing. Next one needs to look at Ramapo, Montclair, Stockton, W. Patterson, and Rutgers-Camden (not sending my kid there BTW).</p>
<p>Mattmom, Well said! I only know one kid who could make use of the STAR program (and it was a great option for this kid. The student was not an academic superstar, but just in large mediocre hs and was able to be in the top 20%. Father was unemployed for over one year). I don't know of one kid who used that program from our HS, or any other student that used the program for that matter.</p>
<p>BTW, we are a family of 4, and we do pay insane property taxes, and auto insurance, major medical premiums, but we cannot afford Aspen. I can relate to the group of NJ families that mattmom describes.</p>
<p>Yeah, I had never even heard of the Star program before seeing this article. Most kids in the top 20% aren't setting their sights on community colleges. It would be a wonderful option for the top 20% kid who has responsibilities at home, or some circumstances that precluded going away. Or a true desire to take some fo the great vo-tech/certification programs these shools offer. But I doubt the vo-tech type kid is often in the top 20%. Sounds like a bureaucratic, lame-brained Catch-22 from New Jersey's political geniuses.</p>
<p>Or Rowan, which may be a decent alternative, although it's no TCNJ. It's very frustrating that there are no other comparable colleges in that range in NJ. That "B+ kid with 1300/1950 SAT" sure is out in the cold. TCNJ is getting ridiculous. Every year it's harder. Maybe the budget cuts will bring down the stats a little. But it's still $20K/year before aid. $80,000 is a lot of money. I agree about Rutgers. It's far too big and spread out, and the classes are huge. I've met several kids in the past year who didn't like Ramapo and left, because of the isolated area and lack of social life. I think that is an issue with many of the NJ state schools, and some of the private schools. They are suitcase schools and can't offer a kid the whole college experience.</p>
<p>I never heard of the STAR program until the mother of the one student I know that was in it told me about it. Our hs never even mentioned the program at any college night, or meeting with GCs. I have never read about the option through any hs mailings either. Stickershock, I agree with you. The top 20% in our hs graduating class does not exactly have their sight set on community college. I wish it would be there to help the B/B- kid with an 1100/1600 SAT score who could not afford a 4 year private college b/c of family finances. It is not there to help that student.</p>
<p>tanya, I forgot about Rowan. You are right that it is not TCNJ. 80,000 is a lot of money, and tuition increases annually so it is more than 80,000. S has a friend at Montclair and he is home every weekend.</p>
<p>The STAR program helps some students, of course, but the tuition at the community colleges is generally not very high, so, in actuality, the sum of money being awarded to the student by the program is not very large. It is not an excuse for cutting other scholarship programs which allow students to attend four year colleges.</p>
<p>motheroftwo, I agree. Additionally, going to a cc where we live is not easy to do without a car. A car and auto insurance (esp. a male driver under 25 y/o in NJ) is a huge expense for someone needing to a save money by attending a CC.</p>
<p>northeastmom: Great point about the car. It's impossible in many NJ counties to get around by public transportation. And with our car insurance rates so outrageous, the car cost would be higher than tuition. Tuition & fees at Bergen CC, for example, run about $1800 for a 15 credit semester.</p>
<p>SS, by having my kid at a college with fantastic public transportation, I have taken my kid off my insurance policy. He is still allowed to drive our cars as an occasional driver. This saves 1500/year in insurance. We never bought a third car, so we never incurred that expense. If either of my kids were to go to CC, they would need a car, and our insurance would go up by 1500/year to put one male under 25 on our policy. This is a lot of additional money just to attend a CC.</p>
<p>I think one variable, and it's a big one, that kids who stay in-state (and aren't rich) are cutting out is living at the college, away from home. Seems like an awful lot of kids, and these are good students but not TCNJ good, are staying home and commuting to Stockton or Rowan.</p>
<p>You lose a lot by not living in a freshman dorm but you gotta do what you gotta do.</p>
<p>2331, I agree with you. This is turning them into commuter schools, JMO. My son has a friend at Montclair. The plan was to live on campus for a year and then live at home and commute (quite a distance, BTW) for 3 years. I know a mother who has 2 children at Montclair. They both live at home and commute. She told me that parking at Montclair is a nightmare too. She also told me that there were price increases for her younger son (for various things), that the older one does not need to pay. She is finding these increases to be really steep.</p>
<p>NY is no different--we have the same problems. What is happening is that the aging folks and illegals are cutting into the funding. More money is needed for Medicaid and all other social services. In order to pay for these increasing services the money has to come from elsewhere . Where better to cut than higher education. It just really sucks.</p>
<p>Parking at Montcalir IS a nightmare! I'm there a couple times a week, not as a student, but as a local community member taking advantage of their offerings. Hockey, music, theater for the kids. Semi-pro baseball in the summer. Because they haven't provided enough parking, but continue to expand programs, it is a bad, bad situation. I have friends who teach there as adjuncts who arrive ridiculously early in order to park. It's nuts.</p>