BUDGET CUTS

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BUDGET CUTS!!!!
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ASTRONOMICAL CUTS

• Because state was in debt, in 2007 higher
  education was cut
• 143.7 million dollars cut to all state colleges,
  almost 10 of total from the previous year!

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What about TCNJ?

• 8.1 Million Cut
• 3.1 million cut to base appropriation
• 3.5 million cut from salary increases (state
  refused to pay, so the college paid for this)
• 1.5 cut to OSRP

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What is OSRP?

• The Outstanding Scholar Recruitment Program is
  set up as a totally merit based system on a scale
  depending solely on High School GPA and SAT
  scores. This program was used to recruit students
  with high GPAs and SAT scores.
• Funding for this years freshman class taken out
  of reserves

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Cuts follow trend in NJ

• Public Higher education has faced significant and
  increasing cuts for the last 6 years
• 15 years ago, the state funded 60 of
  college/university costs
• Now, the state funds around 20
• This is a 2/3 drop!!!!!

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But why do we get cut all the time?

• Legislators have told us personally that as long
  as college students apathy keeps them from
  voting or voicing their outrage, higher education
  will continue to get cut because its easy.

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How did TCNJ react?
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Will we still be the HOT college?

• 46 staff positions held vacant, leading to staff
  being highly overworked
• No salary increases for senior management
• No new computers for this year4 year replacement
  program for computers put off for this year

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Will we still be one of the 20th most beautiful
campuses in the nation?

• Construction cuts
• 400,000 cut from maintenance projects
• Delays in building upgrades
• No new smart classrooms
• 500,000 cut from IT (information technology)

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Will we still be the ranked 6th in the category
of happiest students?

• Communal bathrooms no longer get toilet paper,
  light bulbs, or trash bags.
• ResLife employees got a reduction in meal plan
• Office hours between 4-8 cut
• PAs cut as well as multiple grad positions

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100,000 cut to transportation

• Restructuring of civic engagement program
• I feel as though we did not get as much out of
  the civic engagement program compared with what I
  heard from students who participated in previous
  years. I had to walk to the Bonner Center every
  Wednesday and did not feel as though I had an
  impact on the greater community, since my project
  only focused on the TCNJ campus. - Stacey
  Hagan, Class of 2010

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How did this effect academics?

• Larger class sizes
• More adjunct professors
• Harder to recruit and retain good
  faculty.(Positions have not been filled, have
  been phased out and or just eliminated. Also, the
  state has eliminated reimbursements for benefits)

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How did this effect athletics?

• 100,000 taken from athletics dept
• Golf and Cheerleading cut
• A former varsity team member expressed his
  discontent at one of our meetings - John Gould

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Tuition increases

• 8 increase overall
• I recall seeing figures lower than 20000 per
  year for expected costs when I first started
  researching information on TCNJ about a year or
  so ago. I was really surprised to see my tuition
  raise to a figure that was thousands of dollars
  more than what I had originally expected. -
  Nick Magou, Class of 2010

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Brain Drain
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• Our state stresses K-12 aid

Higher education
School aid
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Our smart kids!

• New Jersey 8th graders are the top performers in
  the nation in national assessments in math and
  reading
• High Schoolers take and score well on AP tests
• NJ 3.25 avg. vs. national 2.89
• NJ has some of the highest qualified educators
• NJ has the highest enrollment of students
  eligible for college by the age of 19

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State Facts

• More of our kids graduate high school only 12
  in NJ dont vs. 13.6 for the nation
• Were a rich state Our economic index is 75.1
  compared to national mean of 60.32
• Economic Index- is the extent to which a state
  participates in knowledge based industries

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Were losing our smart kids ?

• Net higher education migration of -26,992
• Avg public 4 year institution tuition 9,282 in
  NJ
• National mean is 5,836 This is a 62.87
  difference!
• For every 1000 of personal income, NJ spends 5
  on higher education appropriations
• National average is 7

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Comparing Public State School Tuition

• Georgia 3,913 ( resident with B avg. free)
• California4,560
• Florida3,336
• North Carolina4,063
• New York5,046
• NJ has the 3rd highest Average tuition. 9,298
• TCNJ 10,553
• ( collegeboard.com)

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Brain Drain

• If you go to college in the state you will most
  likely work in the state economic growth
• 80 TCNJ class of 2005 that was employed were
  employed in New Jersey
• In 2005- 22,987 AP scores were sent out of the
  state by NJ students
• Only 10,415 AP scores remained in NJ
• The average score leaving 3.42
• The average score staying in NJ 3.01

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15 million students in undergrad

• 79 - public
• 21- private

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OSRP

• Cut of the Outstanding Scholar Recruitment
• Will send New Jerseys Best and brightest out of
  the state
• The college is taking the 1.5 million from
  reserve to fund this years freshman
• THIS WILL HELP THE VALUE OF YOUR DEGREE!!
• Helped our avg. SAT get so high

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Why OSRP is important!

• OSRP has increased the number of top scholars
  enrolling in New Jersey colleges and universities
  by almost 50.
• Almost 80 of TCNJs OSRP graduates are employed
  in New Jersey, and 94 reside in the state.
• 98 of OSRP students cited the merit program as a
  primary reason for choosing their college

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How NJ measured up in 2006-7 fiscal year

• Total state general-fund appropriations for
  higher education went up by 7 percent, to
  72.18-billion
• 14 states experienced double-digit increases in
  their appropriations for higher education
• 28 states increased appropriations for higher
  education by at least 5 percent for 2006-7.
• 38 adopted increases substantially above the rate
  of inflation
• only two states, Montana and New Jersey, cut
  spending

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Whats happening now

• Governor proposed a state budget to the
  legislature which has a slight increase in higher
  education funding
• Since the college faced significant cuts for
  the last 6 years, small increases take us nowhere
  near where we should be compared to other states.

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What are the Numbers?

• Though Corzine increased higher education by
  49.3, he cut more than 169 million last year
• College will receive 1.6 Million
• This increase is basically adjusting the previous
  cut to inflation

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So what now?

• Budget is now being discussed by the legislature,
  who will decide the final amount that higher
  education and TCNJ will receive.
• This is the time where popular influence will
  sway the numbers in the budget.

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Well, What Can I Do???
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VOTE!!!
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How To Vote?

• Fill out a Registration Form and Mail to your
  County Legislative Office

• If you live far away, Apply for an Absentee
  Ballot and Mail it before election day

• Go to Polling Booths on Election Day

• Find out which Candidates Support Higher
  Education before casting Your Decision

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Why Should I Vote?

• So that Legislators take College Students
  seriously

• Our opinions will Actually make a Difference

• It will make legislators Think Twice before
  considering Future Budget-Cuts

• It is your Obligation as an American Citizen

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SPEAK OUT!!!
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Come To Legislator Meetings

• SGA has been regularly meeting with NJ
  Legislators to project Student Views and concerns
  for TCNJ

• Few state colleges do this, and legislators are
  always impressed with our initiatives

• Legislators want to see more students voice their
  opinions

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Who We Have Influenced

• SGA has met with over 15 legislators and state
  officials from both the Assembly and the State
  Senate in personal settings to discuss the
  effects of the cuts on TCNJ and Higher education

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Upcoming Meetings

• Assemblyman Voss
• March 22nd
• Perth Amboy office at 9 AM

• Find out more upcoming meetings by checking the
  SGA website or emailing Strom2_at_tcnj.edu

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Email Legislators

• Use the New Jersey Legislature roster to find out
  which legislator is in from your district and
  then either email or call them to voice your
  concerns about higher education.

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PETITION!!!
Anthony Spenelli
Sana Fathima
Flamour Rama
Dan Scapardine
Billy Plastine
Steve Viola
Dan Beckelman
Michela Fiaschi
Michael Strom
Jason Schramm
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Sign A Petition

• Sign a yellow Card saying You Support Higher
  Education

• Sign the Written Petition

• These will all be sent to the State Capitol for
  State Officials to see

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GET YOUR FRIENDS TO SIGN A PETITION!!!!

• Take one of the Petition handouts and get all
  your friends and floor mates to sign
• Once enough petitions have been returned to the
  SGA cube we will mail them to the State House.

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RALLY!!!
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Actively Rally

• Leave your Name and Email on the Rally Report

• Be a part of the campus Organized March outside
  the State Capitol set currently for Thursday, May
  3rd

• State Colleges all over NJ will be invited to
  this TCNJ led effort

• Tell All Your Friends and Colleagues

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Save Your Home
Save TCNJ