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New Jersey City University will receive a $10 million lifeline from the state to help the embattled institution dig itself out of a financial crisis, The Jersey Journal reported last week.
The additional state funding will plug an $8.1 million hole in NJCU’s 2024 budget, which university officials lowered from an initial projection of $22 million through cost-cutting measures including layoffs and program cuts. The state is expected to attach fiscal monitoring requirements to the additional aid, given financial missteps by former university officials.
In May a state comptroller report found that NJCU’s financial emergency was the result of systemic failures connected to inadequate budget processes and a lack of oversight by the governing board. The NJCU Board of Trustees chairman resigned shortly after the findings were released. Sue Henderson, who presided over NJCU leading up to the financial crisis, resigned last year shortly after a financial crisis was declared, exiting her role as president with a generous severance package.
While the $10 million will offer NJCU budgetary relief, some local officials had hoped for more, with one state lawmaker pressing for a $25 million handout to help bail out the cash-strapped college.
Following NJCU’s fiscal crisis, legislation is being considered to appoint state monitors for public universities in financial distress and to require the state’s public institutions to provide more financial data, such as an annual fiscal monitoring report and comprehensive audits.
