A large number of higher education options are available in the State of New Jersey. Currently, 31 four-year colleges and universities are located in New Jersey. In addition, there are nineteen county colleges offering two-year programs, serving the 21 counties in the state.
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Among the original thirteen American colonies, New Jersey is unique in that it was the only colony in which two colleges were established before the Declaration of Independence was promulgated in 1776. Of the nine colonial colleges, New Jersey possessed College of New Jersey, now called Princeton University, founded in 1746 and Queen's College, now known as Rutgers University (or officially as Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey), founded in 1766.
Princeton was established by the New Light Presbyterians.
Rutgers was established by clergy affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church.
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To provide post-secondary education to a greater number of New Jersey students and keep high achieving high school students in the Garden State for college, New Jersey has established several scholarships. The New Jersey Higher Education Student Assistance Authority (NJHESAA) manages these programs. They include memorial scholarships, such as the Law Enforcement Officer Memorial Scholarship (for children of New Jersey law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty), [1] and World Trade Center Scholarship Fund (for children of September 11th attack victims). [2] The NJHESAA also coordinates the Edward J. Bloustein Distinguished Scholar program, the NJ STARS award program, and the NJCLASS student loan program.
Every year NJHESAA coordinates the Edward J. Bloustein Distinguished Scholar program. This award is granted to any New Jersey high school student who ranks in the top 10% of their graduating class at the end of their junior year. This top 10% must also graduate as the first, second, or third ranking student in the class or achieve at least a 1260 combined critical reading and math score on the Scholastic Aptitude Test. Each student receives $1,000 a year for the duration of their college career so long as they attend a college in New Jersey. [3] Students can receive the scholarship for no more than five semesters at a two-year institution and no more than eight semesters at a four-year institution. The award is paid by NJHESAA directly to the institution in which the student is enrolled. [4]
The award was established in the 1989–1990 academic year and posthumously honors Edward J. Bloustein, the seventeenth President of Rutgers University. The award was granted to more than 5,000 students in the 2006-2007 collegiate academic year. [5]
In 2004, then Governor Jim McGreevey created the New Jersey Student Tuition Assistance Reward Scholarship program (NJ STARS) to assist New Jersey high school students who go on to one of New Jersey's county colleges after graduation. Under this program, students who graduated in the top twenty percent of their high school class are provided with free tuition and fees at any New Jersey community college. The program covers up to five semesters of tuition as long as the student takes at least 12 credits each semester. Recipients must maintain a 3.0 grade point average through the first year to get the scholarship renewed for the second year. [6]
The program was later expanded to include the NJ STARS II program. Any student who receives scholarship aid in the NJ STARS program at a county college can receive aid at a New Jersey 4-year college after graduation from the county college. The NJ STARS II program provides full tuition for the student at participating New Jersey colleges. The state provides $4,000 for tuition for the student and the college covers the rest of the balance. A student must also apply for federal aid to reduce what the colleges must provide. [7]
Rutgers University, officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's College, and was affiliated with the Dutch Reformed Church. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States, the second-oldest in New Jersey after Princeton University, and one of nine U.S. colonial colleges that were chartered before the American Revolution.
Bright Futures is a scholarship program in the state of Florida. It is funded by the Florida Lottery and was first started in 1997.
The National Merit Scholarship Program is a United States academic scholarship competition for recognition and university scholarships. The program is managed by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC), a privately funded not-for-profit organization based in Evanston, Illinois. The program began in 1955.
Francis Leo Lawrence was an American educator and scholar specializing in French literature and university administrator. A graduate of Saint Louis University and Tulane University, Lawrence taught at Tulane for over 30 years and held posts as academic vice president, provost, and dean of the graduate school before being appointed as the 18th president of Rutgers University (1990–2002).
The HOPE Program created in 1993 under the supervision of Georgia Governor Zell Miller, is Georgia's scholarship and grant program that rewards students with financial assistance in degree, diploma, and certificate programs at eligible Georgia public and private colleges and universities, and public technical colleges. HOPE is funded entirely by revenue from the Georgia Lottery and is administered by the Georgia Student Finance Commission (GSFC).
The Tuition Assistance Program is a financial aid program for students who are New York State residents and who are attending a post-secondary educational institution in New York. It is a program of the Higher Education Services Corporation which is a New York State Agency.
Rutgers University–Newark is one of three regional campuses of Rutgers University, a public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. It is located in Newark. Rutgers, founded in 1766 in New Brunswick, is the eighth oldest college in the United States and a member of the Association of American Universities. In 1945, the state legislature voted to make Rutgers University, then a private liberal arts college, into the state university and the following year merged the school with the former University of Newark (1936–1946), which became the Rutgers–Newark campus. Rutgers also incorporated the College of South Jersey and South Jersey Law School, in Camden, as a constituent campus of the university and renamed it Rutgers–Camden in 1950.
Hudson County Community College (HCCC) is a public community college in Hudson County, New Jersey.
Essex County College (ECC) is a public community college in Essex County, New Jersey, United States.
Mercer County Community College (MCCC) is a public, community college in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. More than 7,000 students enroll in one or more credit courses each year.
Camden County College (CCC) is a public community college in Camden County, New Jersey. Camden County College has its main campus in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township, with satellite locations in Camden, Cherry Hill and Sicklerville. The college offers Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, and Associate in Applied Science degree programs and certificate programs.
Sussex County Community College (SCCC) is a public community college in the town of Newton in Sussex County, New Jersey. It is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and several of its programs are further accredited or approved by state government agencies and national occupational standards associations.
Edward J. Bloustein Distinguished Scholars are recognized as the highest achieving graduating high school students in or from New Jersey and are granted awards regardless of need.
Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) is a public community college with two campuses in the South Jersey region of New Jersey. The first, Gloucester Main Campus, is in Sewell. The second, Cumberland Branch Campus, is in both Vineland and Millville. The college was established in 1966 as Gloucester County College (GCC). In 2014, the college changed its name to Rowan College of Gloucester County when Rowan University and Gloucester County College entered into a partnership. The college then expanded in 2019, combining Rowan College at Gloucester County (RCGC) and Cumberland County College to become Rowan College of South Jersey.
The Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy of Rutgers University serves as a center for the theory and practice of urban planning, public policy and public health/health administration scholarship. The school is located in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and was named in honor of the former Rutgers University president, Edward J. Bloustein. Through its academic programs and research centers, the Bloustein School engages in instruction and research, and combines learning and application. The school's strengths and the specializations of its faculty are vast and many of its faculty members are the founders of theories or practices that are now commonplace in urban planning and policy. Areas of expertise for Bloustein faculty members include transportation planning and the environment, urban and community health, workforce development, and social justice.
Gloria Bonilla-Santiago, born January 17, 1954, in Puerto Rico, is a Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor at the Department of Public Policy and Administration and Director of the Center for Strategic Urban Community Leadership at Rutgers University-Camden. She is also the founder of Leadership, Education, and Partnership (LEAP) Academy University Charter School located in Camden, New Jersey. Created in 1997, LEAP is one of the 17 inaugural public charter schools in New Jersey. As the founder of LEAP, Bonilla-Santiago created a merit pay/pay-for-performance program designed to reward excellence in teaching and improve student academic outcomes.
The 2011 Rutgers Tuition Protests were a series of primarily student-led public education reform initiatives at Rutgers University in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Faced with rising education costs, diminished state subsidies and the possibility of a non-existent tuition cap, campus groups, mobilized to keep the increase in annual student financial obligation to a minimum through marches, sit-ins, letters to administration officials, and forums.
Robert Lawrence Barchi is an American academic, physician, and scientist. He was the 20th president of Rutgers University, holding the position from September 1, 2012, to June 30, 2020. Barchi was appointed to the position on April 11, 2012, to succeed Richard L. McCormick. Previously, Barchi was president of Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, prior to which he was provost of the University of Pennsylvania.
Clement Alexander Price was an American historian. As the Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor of History at Rutgers University-Newark, Price brought his study of the past to bear on contemporary social issues in his adopted hometown of Newark, New Jersey, and across the nation. He was the founding director of the Institute on Ethnicity, Culture, and the Modern Experience at Rutgers; the vice chair of President Barack Obama's Advisory Council on Historic Preservation; the chair of Obama's transition team for the National Endowment for the Humanities; a member of the Scholarly Advisory Committee of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture; and a trustee of the National Trust for Historic Preservation.