Students Crash Trustee Meeting to Protest Planned Tuition Hike

Students at Essex County College are protesting a potential 20 percent or higher tuition hike for the coming year, taking to Board of Trustee meetings en masse and calling the salaries of the school’s top administrators into question.

An Essex County College representative told Patch in an email that the potential tuition hike would be the first time in five years that the college has raised its rates, which have remained constant at $108 per credit hour.

Despite reducing overall expenses by $2.5 million, school administrators cited declining state and county funding – which fell 18 percent last year – as a major factor in their decision to raise tuition rates.

In a January email to students, Essex County College President Gale Gibson wrote that overall enrollment numbers were 11.5 percent lower than expected for the current fiscal year, another possible reason for the proposed hike.

According to school administrators, the tuition increases will also help to pay for a new student testing lab and advisement center, increased on-campus jobs for students, technology updates in classrooms, new academic programs, faculty and staff development, and climbing utility/insurance costs.

The publically funded college currently serves over 26,000 students and has campuses in Newark, West Caldwell and Cedar Grove, according to the school’s website. In addition, the website claims that it sends more transfer students to Rutgers, New Jersey Institute of Technology and Montclair State University than any other college in the state.

STUDENTS PROTEST PLANNED HIKE

Students didn’t take kindly to the prospect of the tuition hikes, and crashed several public meetings and hearings after learning of the Board of Trustees’ plan.

About 20 students expressed their frustration during the board’s public meeting on March 17, chanting slogans and displaying signs that read “Freeze Tuition” and “We are not blank checks.”

In a group statement during an on-campus press conference on Tuesday, students charged that conditions at the school are getting worse at the same time costs are increasing, and are seeking an immediate tuition freeze.

“Strictly speaking, there are no transfer advisers,” students stated in a release. “Library hours have been cut. Computer labs are overcrowded and printers are not working properly. The cafeteria is expensive. The technology is outdated. Not to mention parking is terrible, especially when your car gets towed.”

Students have also charged that salaries for the school’s top administrators are an insult in the face of the potential tuition increases.

In an email to Patch, one of the student organizers, Lev Zilbermints, claimed that the students had obtained payroll information through an Open Public Records Act request, revealing salaries for administrators at the school range from $107,000 to $213,000, not including benefits.

ABOUT ESSEX COUNTY COLLEGE

• The school is “New Jersey’s only two-year college designated as a predominantly black and Hispanic serving institution,” according to a release
• About 70 percent of its students receive financial aid, according to a release
• Currently, student tuition makes up around 62 percent of the college’s $95 million operating budget, according to student organizers

Photo 1: Essex County College students protest a proposed 20 percent tuition hike in 2015 during a student-held press conference on March 31.

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