Dive Brief:
- State schools in New Jersey get between $2,100 and $8,900 per student in state aid to cover operations, and officials do not even remember how the funding formula was designed to justify the disparities.
- The Press of Atlantic City reports colleges like Stockton University, which gets about $2,300 per student after years of enrollment growth without the related funding increase, have begun to advocate for a policy change.
- State-commissioned reports have called the system irrational, outdated and unfair, and while presidents of the lower-funded schools are not advocating parity, they say enrollment growth should factor into the funding formulas in some way.
Dive Insight:
New Jersey is not the only state facing demands for greater equity in higher education funding. Michigan has had similar calls. In Maryland, supporters of historically black colleges and universities rallied earlier this month in support of change. That state system is facing a lawsuit by The Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education, which argues HBCUs have been underfunded and state decisions about program duplication have kept them at a competitive disadvantage. Similar suits are on the books in Pennsylvania and South Carolina.
One factor in the state funding debate is a shift toward performance-based funding over allocations tied directly to enrollment. In Michigan, half of state funding is allocated based on performance indicators and that is becoming more common around the country. New Jersey is one of the few states that still do not have a performance-based funding model in place.