<p>And sticking students with the bills. In most states the state has to appropriate $$$ to pay for the bonding--not in NJ.</p>
<p>NorthJersey.com:</a> N.J. colleges borrow billions; students stuck with the tab</p>
<p>Makes me feel so ‘lucky’ to live in NJ. O vey!</p>
<p>Actually, this is good for the state’s private colleges. With the increase in fees (NJ students pay incredibly high fees), private colleges look more affordable all the time. </p>
<p>I used to be amazed when I would read on CC how many families wouldn’t look at private colleges due to cost. Their own state colleges were more affordable. Being a Jersey girl and only familiar with the cost of college in NJ, I was surprised by this as I didn’t realize how cheap state college could be in other states. All I know is that in NJ, state college are not cheap and now I’ve come to realize that we have about the most expensive state colleges in the country. How lucky can we get?!</p>
<p>I think it is very very sad for families in NJ.</p>
<p>I believe NJ has the lowest funding for higher education in the country. It will not get better. NJ faces an $8 billion budget shortfall next year so there should be zero expectation of increased aid. If the public colleges need upgraded facilities it can only come from tuition and fees, unless some rich person wants a building named after them.</p>
<p>Bottom line: the check I write for my child at the very expensive private LAC is slightly LESS than the check I write for my child at the NJ public college. I personally think it’s a crime. I too was shocked when I started this process to see how incredibly expensive NJ public schools were when compared to other states.</p>
<p>So what do we want cut from NJ’s State budget so we can see increased higher ed. aid to the 34 public institutions in NJ? Do we want tax increases for more funding?</p>
<p>The budget is about $30 billion- the operating budget is about $6 billion for all employee costs, health care pensions and rent on office space, office supplies, government cars, utiliites, etc.</p>
<p>Is it overwhelmingly more expensive than other state’s colleges? Since the average income in NJ is 31% higher than it is in Michigan, and Michigan has 36% higher unemployment rate, I would think that NJ public colleges should cost about 42% more than Michigan’s. My tuition at UMich is right around $6200/semester, so NJ’s best public college should cost $8800/semester. And I think it’s worth noting, at every calculation I rounded down (except the tuition for UMich, but with fees and such I think it’s over $6200). </p>
<p>If it’s less than that, I don’t see the problem.</p>
<p>wheres the problem?</p>
<p>there is an annual state higher education officials publication (shef; found at sheeo.org) that ranks new jersey funding for higher education at tenth nationally on a fte basis ($8076 per fte in 2007). similarly, net tuition ranked eighth ($6503 per fte). seems to me that both sides are attempting to fund quality schools in a high-cost state. </p>
<p>now, im not particularly well versed in public funding for higher education, so there my be something extraordinarily misleading about this data.</p>
<p>link: [State</a> Higher Education Finance](<a href=“http://www.sheeo.org/finance/shef-home.htm]State”>http://www.sheeo.org/finance/shef-home.htm)</p>
<p>Median property taxes:</p>
<p>[Property</a> taxes: Where does your state rank? - MSN Money](<a href=“http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/Advice/PropertyTaxesWhereDoesYourStateRank.aspx]Property”>http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/Advice/PropertyTaxesWhereDoesYourStateRank.aspx)</p>
<p>Ahhh, it looks like NJ is on the top of the list for the highest property taxes.</p>
<p>Now, here is a chart on sales taxes and “sin taxes”:</p>
<p><a href=“http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/best-and-worst-taxes-by-state.aspx[/url]”>http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Taxes/best-and-worst-taxes-by-state.aspx</a></p>
<p>northeastmom–yep! It was disconcerting to realize that if we (someday!) paid off our (big) mortgage – we’d still be paying about $900 a month to live here in prop tax alone! </p>
<p>My gf is going from own to rent. It’s not looking like such a bad option, lol!</p>
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<p>Exactly! For those of you who are not familiar with NJ and expenses, the property taxes described above are not necessarily for anything close to a McMansion. It could be for a 3 or 4 bedroom home that could be quite old (home can be new, or 100+ years old), sitting on 1/4 of an acre of land (don’t think about a gorgeous heated pool, or tennis court in the backyard).</p>
<p>Not one penny of property tax goes to fund higher education. It is all for local government (police) and secondary education (teachers).
Not one penny of income tax goes to higher ed. It all goes to property tax rebates (senior citizens) and secondary education (teachers again)
A portion of the sales tax and some funds from the lottery go to higher ed.</p>
<p>erica- I believe that links to 2004 data. NJ has actually cut higher ed spending since then.</p>
<p>My posting some of NJ taxes, is in answer to post 8:</p>
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<p>I am showing in part, where NJ incomes are going (and I did even mention things like major medical premiums, and high auto insurance premiums). I do not think that NJ public Us are affordable for residents (other than wealthy residents). JMHO.</p>
<p>I do not disagree that is why I ask in post 7 what should we cut to fund higher education.</p>
<p>Okay, I’ll account for property taxes.</p>
<p>NJ residents make 27.4% more than Michigan residents after you subtract the median property tax from the incomes. Instead they should only be paying 37.3% more than Michigan residents, meaning $8500/semester instead of $8800. In addition to the fact that it was a very minor change, that subtraction was done on the median income of the whole state, not the median income of just home owners.</p>
<p>Edit: I did the tuition estimator and after all the fees they tack on, it looks like $6500/semester tuition for Engineering at the New Brunswick campus (I just picked that one because Camden and Newark are known for being really ‘ghetto’ places, whereas I’ve never heard of New Brunswick). Comparatively much cheaper.</p>
<p>northeastmom–agree—son could have gone OOS to VA Tech for about the same as instate to Rutgers. When you look at the (far, far less) cost to go instate to UMCP, say, it’s really eye-opening!</p>
<p>Sounds like I would not retire to NJ or have a big desire to live there</p>
<p>LOL</p>
<p>Qwert- New Brunswick is Rutgers main campus. Camden and Newark are separate with their own sports teams etc. They play Division III sports.</p>