NJCU Recovery & Revitalization Plan: A Long-Term Framework

RECOVERY & REVITALIZATION PLAN:

A Framework for Long-Term Financial Sustainability, Mission Focus, and Student Success

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

New Jersey City University (“NJCU” or the “University”) began FY 2023 with a projected $22.66 million operating deficit on a modified-cash budget basis. The University made a strategic decision to move from the standard accrual budget standard that governs audited financial statements to focus intently on liquidity concerns after persistent and multi-year budget deficits driven by declining enrollment and corresponding net-tuition revenue shortfalls that were significantly exacerbated by the global pandemic.

The strategic decision informed the University’s aggressive cost-containment and operating deficit reduction efforts. The University has permanently adopted the modified-cash budget approach to lead its recovery and long-term sustainability objectives.

One notable systemic problem is that, even with additional cuts, NJCU will still have between $16 million and $19 million in fixed or mandatory costs. This includes an anticipated increase in our debt service of $3 million by 2027, which was delayed by a previous restructuring and refunding of the University’s long-term debt. These fixed costs per undergraduate student are not covered by tuition, Pell grants, or any other assistance.

The FY 2023 starting operating budget deficit has been reduced by approximately $10 million to $12.67 million. Changes already made will result in a reduction to $8.85 million in three (3) years by FY 2026, assuming there are no unfunded obligations or mandates added to NJCU’s operating budget (i.e., labor increases). NJCU will need a minimum of $12.67 million in additional funding from FY 2023 appropriation level this academic year to prevent further erosion of our liquidity, $11.25 million in FY 2024 and $9.85 million in FY 2025. A $25 million stabilization will prevent the complete erosion of cash reserves, help realize

the long-term rightsizing savings in real time, and invest in the full implementation of the University’s recovery and internal reforms that will drive mission-focused student success over the next three (3) years.

The most recent cash-flow projections, which were shared with the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education and Board of Trustees in February 2023, estimated additional year-end budget deficit reductions, but those figures are preliminary and subject to change based on unanticipated and emergency expenditures.

NJCU’s academic right-sizing efforts are also projected to yield up to another $5 million in operating budget deficit reductions, but the full amount will not be fully realized until the close of FY 2024 due to collective bargaining obligations and academic program sunsetting implementation costs. Those efforts significantly contribute to the longterm budget deficit reduction control.

NJCU anticipates identifying at least another $3 million in further reductions in expenses by implementing further rightsizing/reorganization strategies in non-faculty and professional staff ranks, outsourcing, negotiating shared-service arrangements, taking underutilized buildings off-line, and increasing net special event revenue.

The University is currently building its FY 2024 budget using a zero-base budget approach to identify and streamline the budgeting of only the most critical operating and mission critical needs with the aim of further reducing the projected operating budget deficit. The FY 2024 budget will also reallocate resources to drive and reinvest strategic enrollment, retention, and graduation initiatives with exclusive focus on student success.

Last fall, NJCU retained CBRE to conduct a thorough inventory and valuation of monetizable real estate assets. CBRE estimates that NJCU can potentially raise over $40 Million in gross revenue by monetizing long-term ground leases and divesting itself of certain real estate assets. Most of the contemplated divestments will require final approval from the State House Commission. These transactions will not be ready before the close of FY 2023 but the goal is to

have them submitted by late Fall 2023. Other assets are being evaluated to ensure continued and cemented community benefits are honored with the City of Jersey City before any sale and/or divestment takes place.

NJCU will use the net revenue from the real estate assets to secure its long-term cash reserves, strengthen its net financial position, ensure bond covenant compliance, and reinvest in some of the deferred maintenance priorities that challenge student experiences on the main campus.

NJCU currently serves 4,320 undergraduates and 1,599 graduate students. Enrollment declined 12% percent from FY 2020 until this year. A year-over-year enrollment decline spiked during FY 2022, when it was 10%, and now in FY 2023 is back at 3%.

With efforts to revitalize NJCU’s mission well underway and with critically important collaborative support of campus stakeholders, the University is positioned to further its recovering by strengthening its enrollment and retention. The University’s shared governance is leading significant reforms to its academic portfolio, general education curriculum, workforce development, and transfer initiatives to promote significant improvements to student success all with measurable key performance indicators.

Considering our new comprehensive approach of working with P-12 school districts and community colleges in the Jersey City, Hudson County, and Fort Monmouth areas, as well as the academic master plan changes detailed in this NJCU Recovery & Revitalization Plan, we anticipate the beginning of a sustained period of enrollment stabilization in FY 2026. The University is committed to ensuring that ongoing recovery and revitalization efforts will result in not only surviving the current financial crisis, but in thriving. NJCU’s students and alumni, faculty and staff, and the communities it has served thanks to the State of New Jersey for nearly a century deserve no less.

REVITALIZATION PLAN CHARGE AND VISION

The University is emerging from its financial crisis as a stronger, more collaborative, and more determined community of faculty, administrators, and staff with a clear focus on student success and mission-driven community engagement The University remains committed, now with even greater energy, to the success of NJCU students, their families, and the communities of Jersey City, Hudson County, and the State of New Jersey writ large.

The NJCU community, in partnership with the State of New Jersey, will revitalize the University’s mission so that it that enrolls, retains, and graduates more students, with a deliberate and primary focus of driving the highest level of equitable access to a four-year degree for the State’s most underserved populations.1 The revitalization will emphasize NJCU’s central teaching and learning mission and will focus on offering quality academic programs that are relevant to the needs of Jersey City, Hudson County, and the State to bring the promise of economic mobility within reach for thousands of individuals and their families every year.

1 At the time of its enactment, Pell Grants covered nearly 80 percent of the cost of attending a public four-year college. However, Pell Grants now account for less than 30 percent of the cost of attendance. In New Jersey, more than 150,000 students each year receive Pell Grants, part of a current population of seven million Pell recipients nationwide. Pell Grant recipients include a clear majority of Black students and about half of Latinx students currently enrolled in college. For reference, see the letter from President Eisgruber and Other Leaders of New Jersey Colleges and Universities to New Jersey Congressional Delegation Regarding Doubling Pell Grants, available at https://president.princeton.edu/blogs/letter-president-eisgruber-and-other-leaders-new-jersey-colleges-and-universities-new-jersey-0 (last accessed March 31, 2023).

For the past five years consistently, NJCU students make up 35% or more of the total number of all students enrolled in New Jersey’s public four-year institutions (other than Rutgers University) who are Pell Grant recipients. Notably, NJCU’s current total student enrollment is only seven percent (7%) of the total student enrollment of this same group. Indisputably, NJCU serves the most economically marginalized students in the State of New Jersey.

NJCU serves the most racially and ethnically diverse student population of any public four-year institution in New Jersey, and it is New Jersey’s longest-standing minority and Hispanic-serving public university. The average proportion of Hispanic students among the entire student population of all public four-year institutions in New Jersey combined is 18%, compared to nearly 45% at NJCU. Similarly, the average proportion of Black students among the entire student population of all public four-year institutions in New Jersey combined is 12%, compared to over 20% at NJCU. The majority of NJCU’s students also identify as first generation.

The University also serves the most socioeconomically diverse student population of any public university in New Jersey by a significant margin. The median annual household income of NJCU’s students is $42,200. Accordingly, NJCU’s mission must be anchored around the moral charge of meeting our students and their communities where they are and to drive the work of economic mobility.

NJCU’s revitalization will be marked by a foundational pillar of excellence in its unequivocal commitment of serving with exceptional and unrelenting focus a community of underserved first-generation students, lower-income students, and students of color.

NJCU SERVES THE MOST SOCIOECONOMICALLY DIVERSE STUDENT POPULATION OF ANY PUBLIC UNIVERSITY IN NEW

REVITALIZATION PLAN GOALS

The NJCU community will use this revitalization plan as a framework for investing time, energy, and available resources in the following three (3) goals.

These goals clearly align with Middle States Commission Standards for Accreditation. This plan will be cemented in a strategic plan forged through shared governance. This historic collaboration with all campus stakeholders will produce unprecedented reforms and priorities that elevate student success for our remarkable and unique population. These priorities have resulted in a significant partnership with the University’s faculty and professional staff union on a Memorandum of Understanding for Shared Vision for Student Success to drive and support unequivocal attention and collaboration on students’ success initiatives and support for institutional academic reforms (see attached).

Goal 1: Sustaining Institutional Health

Standard II—Ethics and Integrity

Standard VI—Planning, Resources, and Institutional Improvement

Goal 2: Effectively Sharing Governance

Standard I—Mission and Goals

Standard VII—Governance, Leadership, and Administration

Goal 3: Collectively Holding Ourselves Responsible for Student Success

Standard III—Design and Delivery of the Student Learning Experience

Standard IV—Support of the Student Experience

Standard V—Educational Effectiveness Assessment

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

1. Community-Focused Student Success: Provide student support that is personalized and proactive to ensure student success that addresses the non-academic impediments and barriers to academic success for predominantly first-generation, lower-income, students of color.

2. Service-Minded and High-Quality Education: Emphasize the delivery of service- oriented teaching and learning experiences that lead to credentials of value and upward social and economic mobility.

3. Morally Imperative Urgency: Accelerate data-driven and mission-aligned decisions and actions to ensure that University always meets the immediate needs and demands of its extraordinary community of students and matches their resolve and grit in facilitating their degree completion.

EQUITY REQUIRES INVESTMENT

Based upon NJCU’s extensive experience educating its largely low-income and first-generation populations, the University recognizes the additional challenges and financial burdens associated with serving its students. A recent study by the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute for Education Sciences examined community colleges in Texas, and the researchers determined that it costs more than twice as much to achieve average outcomes for a first generation or older student than for a student without extra those challenges. Students from low-income households and English learners cost 19 to 31 percent more to educate.2 Sustained investment in NJCU is necessary to continue to meet our students where they are, and to elevate the academic and professional outcomes of the communities we serve. These investments are completely aligned with the present priorities of the State of New Jersey, but must be enshrined for decades to come. Together, we will not just leave higher education in New Jersey better than we found it, we will leave NJCU’s singular mission strengthened and protected.

2 An Examination of the Costs of Texas Community Colleges (2022), USDOE, Regional Educational Laboratory Program, available at https://ies.ed.gov/ncee/rel/Products/Region/southwest/Publication/100875 (last accessed April 3, 2023).

KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Success for NJCU’s revitalization efforts will be measured in the following ways:

• Enrollment—Increase faculty through-put for credit hour production to serve the disproportionate needs of our student population more fully and equitably.

• Intensity—Increase enrollment intensity to shorten time to degree/award by maximizing bridge programs and intersession offerings.

• Successful course completion—Improve student learning outcomes by ensuring best practices in developmental and remedial credit-bearing options to not unduly delay time to degree.

• Inclusive pedagogy—Develop faculty skills, engagement with, and application of inclusive pedagogy principles.

• Retention—Ensure persistence from one semester to the next through degree map pathways that lead to degree attainment.

• Graduation—Ensure that students accrue stackable credentials and extend support services to increase the degree completion rate. The University will specifically work to support and facilitate the unique pathways that its first-generation and non-traditional students must take to overcome personal circumstances.

AN ACADEMIC MASTER PLAN TO DRIVE MISSION WITH INTENTION

NJCU is currently developing a new academic master plan based upon a revised strategic plan and a reduced academic portfolio.

The academic master plan addresses three key areas of academic priorities: academic portfolio, student success and retention, and high-impact instruction and mentoring. This work will be conducted with multiple stakeholders, and it will be completed by Spring 2024. The university will not develop new programs until it has completed its academic master plan, and any new proposed programs must be consistent with that plan.

The University is also developing a new strategic program review process that will focus on mission, market, and margins. The program review policy and procedure will be finalized by Spring 2024. This process will establish the basis for all academic budget allocations, new programming, and future faculty hires.

The subcommittee addressing the academic portfolio will develop guidelines for future program development. They will research higher education markets, particularly in New Jersey and among other minority serving institutions to identify future opportunities for growth. The guidelines for new programs and for resource support for current programs will be developed by Fall 2024.

The subcommittee addressing student success and retention will identify indicators of student success and generate new policies, procedures, KPIs, and budget recommendations related to student success and retention. The new policies and procedures as well as the changes to the budget will be realized by Fall 2025.

The subcommittee addressing high-impact instruction and mentoring will work with union leadership regarding annual review, including post-tenure review with a focus on teaching and mentoring. They will also redesign the university’s advising model to ensure that our advising and mentoring addresses the needs of our students. The new annual review guidelines will be operational by Spring 2024.

Curriculum Reform for Community-Centered Academic Success

The vision to revitalize the University’s mission by deliberately working to meet our student populations where they are and confront the disproportionate personal and academic challenges they face; the University, in partnership with its University Senate, is poised to recommend the most significant overhaul of its general education curriculum in decades.

The charge is simple but significantly important: NJCU needs to lift all barriers to academic success from the underserved populations that we must serve and are uniquely positioned to serve.

Eliminating Barriers for Transferring General Education Credits

The University is recommending the overhaul of its general education program to ensure that any course certified by the New Jersey Council of County Colleges (NJCCC) to satisfy general education requirements in community colleges will satisfy the general education (GE) requirements at NJCU.

The proposed overhaul will allow every course on the approved NJCCC list, including those without direct equivalencies, to be accepted at NJCU for GE credit. NJCU will be the only four-year institution in New Jersey to do this and in doing so will become the most transfer-friendly public university in the state. This reform is critical to NJCU’s revitalized mission of high access and equity of opportunity in our communities. The reform will drive a push for the new commitment to transfer enrollment and facilitate the State’s strategic investment in reengaging the thousands of residents with some college but no degrees.

The most recent data reveals that Hudson County Community College students make up 41% of our incoming transfer students, followed by Brookdale Community College at 17%, Essex Community College at 9%, Bergen Community College at 8%, and Middlesex Community College at 8%. About 55% of all students who transfer into NJCU complete their bachelor’s degree within four (4) years of enrolling at NJCU. The GE reform will significantly drive the recruitment, retention, and completion of our transfer cohorts by Fall 2024.

• The GE reform planned ratification by the University Senate is scheduled to be completed by June 30, 2023.

• Department chairs will complete a GE equivalencies audit by July 31, 2023.

• Department chairs will use a fast-track process to revise student learning outcomes of unique GE courses by August 31, 2023.

• PeopleSoft, degree maps, course catalog, NJTransfer, and admissions literature will all be updated by December 1, 2023.

• Because the institutional assessments are maintained within our general education curriculum, the university is revising its assessment protocol to align with the changes in general education. The new assessments will be finalized by December 1, 2023.

• New budgeting and scheduling policies to minimize needless competition between department GE offerings to be established by October 31, 2023.

Enhanced Dual Enrollment Initiative

NJCU received grant funding to increase dual enrollment in STEM areas. The University recently hired an Articulation and Dual-Enrollment Specialist who is working with area high schools and community colleges to renew articulation agreements. The university is focusing its efforts on the high schools along the Jersey City Bus 10 route and Light-Rail routes to encourage dual enrollment of high school students. We are also working with community colleges around the main campus and Fort Monmouth.

NJCU / Hudson County Community College CONNECT (Hudson Promise/Promesa)

We have partnered with our neighbor, Hudson County Community College, to develop the NJCU/HCCC CONNECT program to cement the Hudson Promise/Promesa. NJCU and HCCC are co-creating a highly visible, inclusive, and barrier-free transfer pathways leading students and their families from high school through our institutions, fully supported with equitable mentoring, advisement, high-impact practices, and seamless program pathways. Together, we will create a singular student experience focused on the holistic needs of students, removing equity gaps, and promoting students’ goals and credential attainment. Through these transformative educational opportunities, we will contribute to an increasingly skilled workforce and our shared communities’ quality of life.

The timing of this transformational transfer plan is significant as NJCU emerges from a financial emergency and HCCC continues to make progress regarding its student success and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. We have assembled capable teams to realize our plan. The plan is the product of the Aspen/AASCU Transfer Intensive and is poised to prove to be an implemented transformational transfer model.

Anchoring Fort Monmouth in Support of Community Colleges

Currently there is no on-ground four-year public college within a 50-mile radius of Fort Monmouth. NJCU has begun to forge partnerships with the area community colleges (Brookdale in Monmouth County, Mercer County Community College, Middlesex College, and Ocean County College) to feed into NJCU as a degree-completion transfer hub. NJCU is well positioned to be an anchor institution at Fort Monmouth for workforce development, four-year degree completion, and address the regional nursing and teacher shortages while continuing to provide access to historically underserved populations.

Top Feeder Community Colleges

Hudson County Community College

Essex County College

Bergen Community College

Brookdale Community College

Middlesex Community College

University-Wide Focus on Student Retention

NJCU recognizes that many factors influence whether first-generation students stay in school. We further recognize that it takes the concerted efforts of all stakeholders to ensure the institution provides adequate support for retention. All units across campus will examine their roles and responsibilities related to student retention. Units across campus will collaborate intentionally to promote academic, social, and emotional support for students and their families.

The Research, Grants, and Sponsored Programs office will work with internal and external stakeholders (including alumni, business partners, and community members) to identify and apply for grants related to student and community support, engagement, and academic success.

• NJCU will provide multiple pathways for students to recover credits for courses where they have received grades of D, F, W, or I.

• NJCU will partner with HCCC and other community colleges to share academic and social support services.

• NJCU will provide extensive training to faculty and staff regarding early interventions that include social and emotional interventions in addition to academic support.

• NJCU will expand its advising model to a mentorship model that engages faculty and staff in the support system for students.

• NJCU will redesign its Orientation to College program to provide support and mentoring throughout each student’s program.

Key Performance Indicators related

to student

retention will be identified, monitored, and their results will drive the university’s continuous improvement process.

Pathways for First-Time College Students

Strengthening Relationships with P-12 Districts and Schools

In addition to mobilizing support for NJCU’s mission and long-term sustainability and by focusing with deliberate attention in the communities that NJCU serves, NJCU has engaged with strategic school district partners with some of the most diverse local school districts that represent NJCU’s natural pipeline. This work includes Jersey City Public Schools, Hudson County Schools of Technology, Union City Public Schools, and Hackensack Public Schools. NJCU is working on preliminary frameworks for dual enrollment partnerships and pre-college articulations. Every week senior leadership is engaging with unprecedented commitment to the neighboring communities and establishing frameworks for student success towards a four-year degree that begins before a student ever sets foot on our campus. Our objective is to bring the possibility of a degree and economic mobility to where the students in our community find themselves.

Dual Enrollment Initiative for First Generation Students. NJCU’s recovery from its financial crisis is driven by its renewed engagement within the communities that it serves. With deliberate intention the University has connected and begun to formulate the basis for unique articulations with p-12 districts and high schools to establish pipelines for college with a specific emphasis on first generation students and students of color from low-income backgrounds. NJCU’s mission will drive economic mobility for the most socioeconomically, racially and ethnically diverse student populations at any public university in New Jersey. NJCU will proudly champion who it organically serves.

The Dual Enrollment Initiative will be enhanced by the General Education (GE) curriculum reform. Many of the courses that NJCU offers as part of existing dual enrollment programming will become more valuable to our students and their families for a variety of reasons that must be addressed within our community.

First, students don’t always know what they want to major in, but many of the courses they take will at least satisfy GE requirements and therefore accelerate the time to complete their degrees. Second, NJCU’s GE courses will be transferable to the community colleges, which is particularly valuable to students who may elect for reasons including financial to attend community college before completing their studies with NJCU.

This collaborative, student-first approach will benefit our primary transfer partners like Hudson County Community College.

The initiative will launch by September 30, 2023, to ensure that a record number of dual enrollment articulations are adopted and memorialized by Spring 2024. This initiative will make it possible for students to take a considerable amount of the GE Program while in high school and fasttrack the attainment of a post-secondary degree from institutions right in their community.

Invest in Signature Programs

NJCU has a particular strength and impact in several areas, particularly in nursing and teacher education. The University has begun to focus specifically but not exclusively on these two areas as they are core to the mission of the institution. NJCU has demonstrated its impact on diversifying the health care and teaching workforce, and this will become increasingly important as both fields struggle to fill vacancies.

Degrees in Education

NJCU students made up 11% of all NJ public institution students awarded a master’s degree in education, and its impact on producing teachers of color is even more significant. Sixteen percent of all Black students and 18% of all Hispanic students awarded degrees in teaching graduated from NJCU in 2020-2021.

NJCU has its origins as a Teachers’ College. We continue to serve as a vital pipeline for teachers in and around Hudson County, and we are expanding our impact by partnering with community colleges near Fort Monmouth where we will build a strong pipeline of teachers of color for Trenton and the surrounding area.

Teachers of Color Pipeline Initiative

According to NJCOE employment data, NJCU prepares long-term educators who respond to the needs of culturally diverse students. At a time when teachers of color are leaving the field at a faster rate than white teachers, it is essential that we increase the number of highly qualified teachers of color to serve the entire State of New Jersey, in and around Hudson County as well as Trenton. Our Teachers of Color Pipeline Initiative removes financial obstacles

NJCU’S IMPACT ON PRODUCING TEACHERS OF COLOR (2020-2021)

for individuals who want to teach and meet the needs of our P-12 school districts across the state. Program components include:

• Financial assistance for transportation and childcare

• Opportunities for paid internships throughout their programs—including the two years they begin their work within community colleges.

• Academic and financial assistance for the Praxis Core exams.

• Pathways that help paraprofessionals complete their degrees through experiential credits.

• Mentoring support throughout their academic program that continues through their first three years of teaching.

• Teachers of Color Professional Network that provides ongoing support throughout their careers to help them stay in the profession.

• Leadership training for school leaders in culturally responsive leadership will help them create supportive environments for their teachers and students.

Health Professions

NJCU students made up 7% of all public four-year university students awarded a bachelor’s degree in health Professions, and like education, NJCU had an even greater impact regarding health professionals of color. NJCU produced 14% of all Black students and 10% of all Hispanic students earning degrees in the health professions in the state in 2020-2021.

Strategic Partnerships to Support Nursing Education

NJCU is finalizing negotiations with a major healthcare industry leader to establish a strategic engagement to grow the nursing program at Fort Monmouth and Jersey City campus. The partnership will begin with NJCU licensing space (to generate cash flow), creating workforce development programs, and establishing an affiliation for career and job placements. NJCU has also been awarded a federal grant of approximately $782,000, secured thanks to U.S. Senator Robert Menendez, to improve in demand and equitable access to online nursing education which will be the hallmark transformation of the University’s accelerated RN to BSN programs.

NJCU’S IMPACT ON PRODUCING HEALTH PROFESSIONALS OF COLOR (2020-2021)

Graduate, Continuing, and Adult Education

NJCU recognizes that supporting the economic advancement of individuals, families, and communities is not achieved solely through undergraduate programming. It also involves training, workforce development, and graduate certificates and degrees. With this in mind, NJCU recently established a new office for graduate studies, adult, and continuing education. The Dean of this new unit works with a graduate council as well as numerous businesses and agencies to ensure that we offer the professional support needed for career advancement and career change.

The new office for graduate studies centralizes operations in sync with Enrollment Management and the faculty-driven Graduate Council. The Dean works with the Registrar, Enrollment Management, IT and the Office of Institutional Effectiveness to build a more systematic process that eases or removes barriers to enrollment, progress toward degree and more granular data on student progress.

The unit will establish a set of priorities and potential for workforce grants and partners that serve the needs of the community. The Dean of Graduate Studies, Adult, and Continuing Education will form a coalition of community-facing entities on campus for regular meetings to determine community needs, address gaps in services, and build synergies to multiple resources and assets.

Strengths-based Approach to Student and Educational Support Services

Our Diverse Community

NJCU has the highest proportion of Black undergraduate enrollment among all the public four-year institutions in New Jersey at 23%. Although NJCU students make up 4% of the total undergraduate student population for public four-year colleges in the state, our students make up 8% of the total Black population of the same category.

NJCU has the highest proportion of Hispanic undergraduate enrollment, among all the public four-year institutions in New Jersey at 43%. Although NJCU students make up 4% of the total undergraduate student population for public four-year colleges in the state, our students make up 8% of the total Hispanic population of the same category.

NJCU Men of Color Initiative

The NJCU Men of Color Initiative will launch in the Fall of 2023 to increase the retention, graduation, engagement, and overall success of students from underrepresented groups in higher education, particularly African, African American/Black, Caribbean, and Latino/Hispanic males. The Men of Color Initiative will address academic and social challenges through mentoring, peer connections, and educational and social engagement opportunities.

SHARED GOVERNANCE COMMITMENT

NJCU has also entered a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the faculty and professional staff union to demonstrate a shared commitment and vision for good faith labor relations that recognizes a student-first mission. The MoU articulates the principles of shared governance, insists on appropriate oversight by and accountability of a fully populated Board of Trustees, and secures unrivaled faculty and staff engagement in student support and enrollment stabilization. The MoU lays out a vision for how we can achieve the revitalization goals laid out at the beginning of this document:

GOAL 1: Sustaining Institutional Health

GOAL 2: Effectively Sharing Governance

GOAL

3: Collectively Holding Ourselves Responsible for Student Success

These shared goals will help shape and drive the University’s shared governance produced strategic plan and mission refresh with overwhelming buy-in from faculty and staff by the end of Summer 2023.

HIGHEST PROPORTION OF BLACK UNDERGRADUATE ENROLLMENT

Most

available data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) of the U.S. Department of Education.

HIGHEST PROPORTION OF HISPANIC UNDERGRADUATE ENROLLMENT

Source: Most recently available data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) of the U.S. Department of Education.

IMPLEMENTED FISCAL AND MANAGEMENT REFORMS (FULLY ADOPTED BY JUNE 30, 2023)

Financial Management

1. Converted to a modified-cash budgetary basis for budget development and execution.

2. Use of zero-base budgeting techniques to develop FY24 annual operating budget.

a. Effective January 17, 2023, NJCU adopted a zero-based budgeting approach to develop a FY24 annual operating budget that will be the base budget for future budget planning. Each division and department were given a base budget of “zero” and instructed to develop a budget that covered only their fixed and mandatory costs, and that included estimates of the cost of providing the most basic levels of academic and administrative support services.

b. The zero-base budgeting approach allows for the strategic reallocation and reinvestment of finite resources into new initiatives to drive enrollment, retention, and completion with intention around student success for our community of students. Increased investment in the university’s operating and capital needs is critical to the success of the university’s right-sizing efforts.

3 Implemented workforce planning software to improve accuracy of salary projections and management of personnel expenses.

Workforce Management

1. Developed a position management policy to control “position creep”.

2. Established a vacancy review committee to evaluate all vacant positions for continued necessity.

3. Established labor management agreements that facilitated the fair and equitable implementation of rightsizing initiatives.

Organizational Management

1. Implemented organizational-wide rightsizing initiative to align administrative and faculty staffing levels with our current enrollment.

2. Established a multi-disciplinary Enrollment Planning and Budgeting Committee to develop enrollment projections.

a. Effective January 31, 2023, NJCU established the Enrollment Planning and Budgeting Committee, an interdisciplinary team comprised of subject-matter experts and decision-makers from enrollment management, finance, financial aid, institutional effectiveness, and academic affairs. The team has been charged with producing data-driven, conservative enrollment projections to serve as the foundation for the development of the FY24 budget and beyond. Because good enrollment forecasting involves analysis and consideration of a myriad of factors, some within and some outside the direct control of enrollment management staff, linking the enrollment management, budgeting, and academic planning processes through an interdisciplinary team of subject matter experts allows for the consideration of multiple factors affecting enrollment, which should produce better, more definitive enrollment projection and budgeting results. As a result of their participating on this committee, it is expected that this team will also propose key policy and procedural changes that will help stabilize enrollment and drive growth, as well as improve student retention and persistence. Prior to the establishment of the Enrollment Planning and Budgeting team, enrollment projection was largely a siloed process handled by the VP for Enrollment Management.

3. Seeking approval of an infrastructure fee dedicated to funding specific capital improvements.

4. Developed and currently implementing an institutional recovery and renewal strategic plan.

HUMAN RESOURCES

Executive Restructuring and Rightsizing

An initial round of managerial layoffs was done during Summer 2022. A salary reduction and furlough process for all eligible employees was also instituted at that time. In November 2022, NJCU implemented a significant reorganization of the senior and executive leadership organizational structure to push institutional efficiencies and mitigate personnel costs. The reorganization included the elimination of three (3) senior management positions. The reorganization was part of NJCU’s rightsizing efforts that were facilitated by NJCU’s financial exigency declaration and followed significant concessions between university management and its faculty union designed to reduce costs. The Executive Level reorganization includes the consolidation of four (4) divisions, reducing the total number of divisions at the executive level from six (6) to four (4). It also includes the elimination of three (3) senior management positions. The four (4) new divisions are now Academic Affairs, Advancement, Finance and Administration, and Student Affairs and Enrollment Management.

Administrative Restructuring and Rightsizing

Notably, most of NJCU’s non-managerial workforce is unionized. NJCU leadership has been engaged since fiscal exigency was declared in June 2022 in extensive negotiations with the unions regarding concessions such as salary reductions, furloughs, and reductions in force. Those negotiations were completed before the expiration of the 90-day interim budget. The Memorandum of Agreement with the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) union was signed in September 2022. In November 2022, six (6) members of the professional staff, members of the AFT, were laid off, via email from the Office of Human Resources which explained the layoff, the agreement with the union, and next steps. Pursuant to the AFT contract, layoff notifications were sent with a minimum of 180 days advance notice. Faculty retrenchment notices were sent to thirty-seven (37) members of the faculty in December 2022.

The Memorandum of Agreement with the Communication Workers of America (CWA) was signed in December 2022. The University is finalizing a continued review of non-essential or mission-critical positions through a deliberately devised position review process. Management has preliminary identified a target of $1.5 million, which will contribute to the structural budget deficit reduction for FY24. Most of the target savings will be realized by eliminating vacant positions and reorganizing responsibilities within existing titles and offices to reallocate finite resources on the strategic priority of driving student success and confronting the unique challenges that persist for our population of students.

Office of the Provost and Academic Affairs Restructure and Rightsizing

Within Academic Affairs, measures included changes in organizational structure and administrative reductions, resulting in approximately $800,000 in projected savings. Changes included the removal of both Associate Provost positions, removal of the Associate Vice President for Global Initiatives roles, retrenchment of the Director of the Professional Education and Lifelong Learning unit, the reassignment of the School of Business Assistant Dean to be the head of Graduate Education, Adult, and Continuing Education, and replacing the Executive Director of Grants with a faculty member. The University is establishing a position for an Associate Provost for Academic Success to ensure intention behind addressing and resolving the unique challenges that plague primarily low-income students, first-generation students, and students of color.

PROGRAM RIGHTSIZING

Academic Program Rightsizing

Academic program rightsizing initiatives began in late summer 2022. This process was implemented according to the principles and practices of shared governance. Led by the Provost, the University Senate Executive Committee (SEC) met along with the deans of the four colleges; and the AFT (faculty union) president met with the Provost as the Academic Affairs Crisis Management team. The charge of the team was to identify program cuts within the University, with that list completed by Aug 31. The SEC contacted chairpersons of each department and program in the four colleges and asked them to identify programs within their purview that could be eliminated. On Aug 31, as requested, the SEC provided their recommendations to the Provost that NJCU continue to allow natural attrition to reduce faculty count, alongside providing a list of some 50 programs that chairs recommended could be cut.

On September 30, 2022, the SEC met with new Interim Provost Donna Breault and then Executive Vice President and University Counsel Andrés Acebo, to continue discussions relating to the fiscal exigency. Among the topics discussed was the budgetary savings of department consolidation or merging. The SEC asked for and was assured that any consolidation would follow the recently approved policy. At the October 17, 2022, University Senate meeting, the new acting Provost discussed the charge to NJCU of reducing the academic budget by $4 million, and sunsetting 30% of all academic programs.

The Division of Academic Affairs announced on December 15, 2022, that it responded to the ongoing university-wide rightsizing efforts by identifying recommendations to reduce its academic portfolio by 37%. Academic Affairs initially announced the recommended sunsetting of 48 undergraduate programs, 24 minors, 28 graduate programs, 10 certificate programs, and one doctoral program.

The personnel implications of these program reductions estimated a budgetary savings of approximately $4.5 million. These savings will not begin to materialize until FY 2024 as they are largely the result of the planned elimination of low-enrolled or underperforming academic programs that have teach-out and other requirements. Academic program sunsetting information was communicated internally via emails and externally via the University’s website. The University’s website also provides clear instructions to students and the public on whom to contact with questions and concerns regarding the academic rightsizing efforts.

Once the decisions were publicized, departments were allowed to submit a formal appeal, which were reviewed collaboratively by the Provost, the Deans of all four schools, and the Chair of the University Senate, alongside NJCU’s Vice President of Finance, Associate Vice President for Institutional Effectiveness, and Associate Counsel.

In a notable demonstration of again unprecedented collaboration between management, faculty, and staff to strengthen the University’s mission, 70 of the 111 distinct academic programs initially identified for sunsetting were not appealed.

After the appeals concluded, final decisions were made by the Interim President and recommended to the Board of Trustees. On February 21, 2023, the Board ratified the sunsetting of 97 distinct programs recommended by the Interim President. All students currently matriculated in programs scheduled for sunsetting will be able to graduate with their degree in accordance with the university’s regulatory and accreditation obligations and commitments.

The unprecedented sunsetting of these academic programs facilitates the university’s focus on high impact and focused academic disciplines and reinvest in targeted student retention and completion initiatives.

Athletic Program Rightsizing

NJCU will discontinue five of its athletic programs by May 31, 2023 (men’s and women’s golf, men’s and women’s tennis, and men’s cross country) The cuts will decrease the University’s athletic offerings from 22 programs to 17 — seven men’s, nine women’s and one co-ed. The Athletic Department has instituted cost mitigation efforts resulting in an overall budget reduction of more than 50% from FY 2022 to FY 2023 end.

COST-CONTAINMENT AND RIGHTSIZING MEASURES COMPLETED TO DATE

• Executive restructuring and rightsizing

• Administrative restructuring and rightsizing

• Academic Affairs restructuring and rightsizing

• Academic program rightsizing

• Athletic program rightsizing

• Eliminating or freezing full-time vacant positions

• Implementing non-recurring pay reduction measures including furloughs, as well as pay cuts to highly compensated employees

NJCU RIGHTSIZING EFFORT

1 R equals recurring savings; NR equals non-recurring savings

2 Academic rightsizing savings will not materialize until FY24 and beyond due to teach costs, severance pay, etc.

NJCU ENROLLMENT WITH FORECAST

NJCU has seen a 17% drop in enrollment since FY 2012. Since the pandemic in FY 2020, the decline in enrollment has been 12%. Graduate enrollment has held steady over the past decade, and undergraduate enrollment has declined significantly.

ENROLLMENT FORECAST

Source: Data through FY 2022 are NJCU data reported to IPEDS.

* Data for FY 2023 are incomplete due to being prepared in April, prior to the simmer 2023 enrollment.

Below we present a worst-case scenario forecast for Fiscal Year 2024. In the worst-case scenario, NJCU makes no changes in policy, procedure, or practice, and reallocates no money or other resources toward strengthening student support services. In this case, there is a 6% across the board decline reflecting an anticipated 4% decline due to program sunsetting, on top of the average 2% of the past few years.

The University is already this year implementing several changes meant to improve retention and degree completion. Along with the changes described above with academic master planning that will make NJCU much more accessible and transfer-friendly, we anticipate stabilization of enrollment within approximately three fiscal years, at around 6,000 FTE, slightly lower than where we were just before the pandemic.

FALL 2023 FORECAST

SPRING 2024 FORECAST

THREE-YEAR FINANCIAL FORECAST

Forecast/Outlook Assumption and Caveats:

• The state appropriate excludes the $2.05 million in funds earmarked for the Garden State Guarantee since those funds are used to pay student tuition and are thus already captured in tuition and fee revenue projections. Although projected in the Governor’s proposed FY24 budget, NJCU is not projecting any decrease to its state appropriation from FY 2023.

• Tuition and Fee Revenue is held constant to highlight the existing structural deficit. A 5% decline in enrollment, however, could add another $4.2 million to the structural deficit.

• The deficit would decline from $22.66 million to $8.52 million in FY 2026, if all other factors remained the same. The reduction in the deficit going forward is largely attributable to the phasing in of personnel cost savings resulting from the sunsetting of various academic programs. No adjustments to benefit costs are projected over the threeyear outlook period as they are largely funded by the State and do not affect the University’s bottom line.

• The numbers presented in the outlook will change as the University completes its zero-base budgeting process for FY 2024. Projected savings from additional rightsizing efforts, however, will likely be offset by declines in enrollment, adjustments for inflationary cost increases, and the need for strategic investments required to drive enrollment.

• In 2027, NJCU’s annual debt service costs will increase from $7.3 million per year to approximately $10 million, resulting from the 2021 refunding bonds that were issued to defer principal payments to 2027 and beyond to generate near-term cash-flow savings. Significant debt service cost increases will occur in 2030 and 2031 as well.

CONCLUSION

NJCU continues to address its financial situation through all appropriate and community-engaged means. The University’s new leadership is transparent in its decision-making and continues to work diligently to find creative and flexible solutions to the financial crisis and drive its recovery and the revitalization of the University’s mission. In doing so, shareholders from across the University have been involved to ensure informed educated decisions are being made. NJCU is essential to the lives and livelihoods of thousands of alumni, students, faculty, administrators, and staff, as well as to the broader communities of Jersey City, Hudson County, and the State of New Jersey. The University is committed to ensuring that ongoing recovery and revitalization efforts will result in not only surviving the current crisis, but in thriving. NJCU’s students and alumni, faculty, and staff, and the communities it has served thanks to the State of New Jersey for nearly a century deserve no less.

NJCU THREE-YEAR BUDGET OUTLOOK