Rutgers Planning New Building on Atlantic Cape Campus

As Richard Perniciaro, Atlantic Cape Community College's dean of facilities, planning and research, puts it, students at the college’s Mays Landing campus can start “making a plan to go across the parking lot to get a four-year degree from Rutgers.”

Atlantic Cape’s Board of Trustees approved a land lease on Tuesday that will pave the way for Rutgers University to establish a permanent building on the Mays Landing campus.

Rutgers currently has mobile trailers on the campus to house certain programs. The state university is currently in the middle of a bidding process that would result in the construction of a two-story building to be in place by mid-2013.

“They currently have 250 students on campus,” Perniciaro said. “They’d like to go up to 1,500.”

As the presence of Rutgers’ students increases, the flat fee Rutgers pays to Atlantic Cape will steadily increase. The school currently pays $25,000 to Atlantic Cape for the trailers and its current student presence.

Perniciaro said the fee would steadily increase, but he didn’t attach a dollar amount to that number. It will be discussed every year rather than every four years, as the sides originally agreed to. The change was made to adjust for inflation, according to Perniciaro.

“It was very important that we set up the financial arrangements so that our students don’t have to pay for their students,” Perniciaro said. “And it’s an opportunity for our students. Some of our students can’t go to Camden or New Brunswick. It’s important to have an important place locally to get a high quality education.”

This means students from Galloway Township who are getting ready to graduate from Absegami High School have an easier path to Rutgers, depending on what programs they intend to enroll in.

Programs currently offered by Rutgers include hospitality management, liberal studies, labor and employment relations, political science, psychology, business administration, criminal justice and education. A social work program is set to launch in 2012.

Rutgers conducted a survey of Atlantic Cape students to see which programs they would like to see Rutgers provide in the new building before deciding which courses to offer.

“This is great for residents,” Perniciaro said. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm for it. Students are becoming aware of it.”