By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog
Assemblyman Jay Webber‘s bill to cap resident college tuition increases at 4% annually passed the Higher Education Committee on Monday, Save Jerseyans.
It’s not going to make him a popular guy at Rutgers University.
Not that any conservative would be to begin with…
“Student debt is driven in large part by high tuition rates, and New Jersey charges its in-state students the fourth-highest tuition and fees in the country,” explained Webber, a Morris County attorney. “It’s damaging to individuals and our economy. It forces college graduates who should be joining the adult world back into their childhood bedrooms. For graduates who are lucky enough to find a job, that debt load pressures them into short-term employment decisions driven by paying off debt rather than long-term career development.
“Mountainous debt also discourages entrepreneurship and risk-taking by some of our brightest, most energetic residents, often best situated to take the smart risks so productive for themselves and the rest of society,” continued Webber.
The struggle is real. You don’t need me to convince you (though I’d be more than happy to let you see my student loan bill if you’re not convinced that there’s a crisis). Webber cited one study that found that 70% of New Jersey college graduates finished their post-secondary career with an average of $29,000 in debt representing a 40% increase since 2004. That’s the 4th highest percentage in America. Plenty of other studies support the contention that student loan debt is holding back the entire U.S. economy.
Then there’s the risk to taxpayers who are long removed from campus. The key, therefore, is encouraging the university system to cut its fat or the end result will simply be even higher asks for taxpayer subsidies.
“Freezing tuition and cutting costs in higher education can work — the results for Rutgers’ Big 10 sister school prove it,” added Webber. “At Purdue, students get a top-notch education while faculty merit bonuses have increased. New Jersey’s universities can and should follow suit. This legislation helps get us there.”
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Yea. College tuition has far surpassed the cost of inflation for the last few decades, and it’s driven by a number of factors that are not controlled by market forces. It has to be coupled with cost-cutting, etc.
Colleges are corporations. they are not in the best interest of the students. they are politically motivated.
Yea
This fails to address the problem. Let’s investigate where all this money’s going. How many “diversity” programs have been added and expanded in the last decade even though RU is already the most diverse college campus in America?
And how about this? Barchi can take a year off next year, with full pay, and never return?!?!
http://www.nj.com/education/2016/02/rutgers_president_gets_97k_bonus–_and_a_raise.html#incart_2box_nj-homepage-featured
http://fee.org/articles/student-loan-subsidies-cause-almost-all-of-the-increase-in-tuition/