New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy has outlined details of his $50 million proposal to make community college tuition-free for some families.
Murphy first announced the proposal in his budget address last month but provided more information during a roundtable discussion on Thursday at Mercer County Community College. The Democratic governor says he wants $45 million to go toward a grant program and an additional $5 million to go to the state’s 19 community colleges to help deal with the potentially higher enrollments.
“We believe that community college is a lynchpin opportunity for us,” Murphy said. “For a relatively modest amount of money, we can make it accessible and available to a lot more students, both students who are 18 years old and coming out of high school, as well as folks coming back after years.”
The proposal is critical to help meet the growing demands for middle-skill jobs in the state, the governor said.
“An investment into an education system that could flip that gap into a surplus — or at least meet the demands — would be one of the most important thing that we could do in our state,” he said. “And in particular invest in community colleges.”
Murphy said that it can’t happen overnight, but the state can do it over three years.
Plan details
About $45 million of the proposal would go toward new Community College Opportunity Grants, which would be “last-dollar” grants used to cover any community college tuition and fees not already paid for by Pell grants, state Tuition Aid Grant (TAG) awards or other funding sources as determined by the state.
During the first year, grants would be limited to those whose average family income is below $45,000, including students graduating high school and adults with some college credit but no degree. Both part-time and full-time students will be eligible for the grants.
The administration estimates that about 15,000 students could be enrolled tuition-free by January.
Community college in New Jersey is already tuition- and fee-free for 29,600 students, or 20 percent of New Jersey’s 150,000 county college students, mainly due to Pell grants and TAG.
GOP: Can’t afford it
Republicans criticized the plan, saying that the public pays enough in taxes and can’t afford higher costs for programs. Instead, Senate Minority Leader Tom Kean, Jr., said, the state could partner with private industry to help students gain skills.
“What we shouldn’t do is force overtaxed families to pick up the tab for Governor Murphy’s spending spree,” Kean said.
