March 18 2025 at 3:20 PM | Council news

FACT SHEET: Critical Need for State Investment in Community Colleges in the FY 2026 State Budget

Proposed Reductions in State Funding to Community Colleges and their Students Will Have Significant Negative Impacts.

Governor Murphy’s proposed FY 2026 budget drastically reduces state investment in community colleges (See chart 1).

Proposed Reductions to Operating Aid Investments:

  • The state’s FY 2024 and FY 2025 budget included operating aid investments of $169.1 million in the state’s community colleges. The proposed FY 2026 budget would cut this investment by $20 million to $149.1 million—bringing funding back to levels appropriated in 2005 (see chart 2).
  • New Jersey ranks 46th in total state funding for community colleges. The state provides $3,454 per full time enrolled (FTE) student—just over a third of the national average of $9,034 (see chart 3).

Proposed Reductions to Student Financial Assistance:

  • An 18% cut to New Jersey’s Community College Opportunity Grant program would eliminate critical assistance to 6,000 lower- and middle- income students. These reductions would limit access for low-income students and raise the cost of a college education.
  • A 100% cut would eliminate $20 million in Summer Tuition Assistance Grants.

Proposed Reductions to Student Success Services:

  • A proposed 50% cut to the Student Success Incentive Fund would significantly hinder community colleges’ ability to support student retention and completion. This reduction would deepen resource gaps, potentially lowering graduation rates and weakening colleges’ capacity to prepare workers for high-demand fields, undermining New Jersey’s economic goals.

Proposed Reductions in Programs that Help Students with Disabilities, Food Insecurity, and Others:

  • The proposed budget cuts funding for programs that help students with intellectual and developmental disabilities (Centers for Adult Transition) and that provide resources for food insecure students (Hunger Free Campus)—among other cuts.

Proposed State Budget cuts would occur at a time when community colleges are facing increased costs and expected reductions in federal funding:

  • Community College are facing a $13 million increase in health care cost through the School Employee Health Benefit Plan and have faced the same inflation in recent years that has challenged the nation.
  • Community colleges need resources to fairly compensate their talented faculty, adjuncts, and staff.
  • Expected reductions in federal investment will further hinder the ability of community colleges to serve their students, communities and economy. New Jersey community colleges and students receive over $242 million in federal funding, including $194 million in Pell Grants that help more than 49,000 New Jersey community college students attend community college—much of which could be at risk. (See chart 4).

Proposed reductions in state support for community colleges will have real and sustained negative impacts on New Jersey’s economy, leading to:

  • Higher tuition;
  • Lower tax revenue and higher levels of reliance on public assistance;
  • Unfilled jobs in key industries (health care, pharma, biotech, energy, manufacturing, IT); and
  • Cuts to programs, support services, and staffing at community colleges.

Investments in New Jersey’s Community Colleges Are Essential to Expanding Economic Opportunity and Building a Skilled Workforce to Power the Economy.

New Jersey’s 18 community college provide life-changing education and career pathways to 240,000 students of all ages and backgrounds every year, preparing them for careers with family-sustaining wages.

  • Roughly half of all students in public higher education in New Jersey attend a community college.
  • Community colleges serve students who reflect New Jersey’s rich diversity; 12 New Jersey community colleges are designated as Minority Serving Institutions, and many students are the first in their families to attend college.
  • Our 18 community colleges educate students in every corner of the state. In several counties, community colleges are the only public higher education option.
  • Over one-quarter (26%) of students in degree and certificate programs are over the age of 24.

Community colleges offer an affordable education. The average cost of tuition and fees for fulltime students is $5,627, compared to $15,121 for four-year public colleges in the state.

  • 33% of New Jersey community college students in degree and certificate programs receive state or federal financial aid.
  • A majority of New Jersey community college students work part- or full-time while attending school and rely on the flexible scheduling and the proximity of their local community colleges.

Community colleges power the state’s economy by preparing highly-skilled students to join the state’s innovative, globally-competitive workforce.

  • More than 60,000 students attend community college workforce programs learning skills that prepare them for a wide array of job and career opportunities.
  • Community college graduates remain in their local communities after graduation, contributing to the community, the tax base, and the economy.
  • Our state’s entrepreneurs, innovators, and businesses in health care, biotech, pharma, fintech, manufacturing, transportation, energy, film and tv, and other industries rely on community colleges for their workers.
  • If New Jersey is to remain competitive as a place to do business, we need to continue to increase the number of our residents who have earned a postsecondary degree or credential that is aligned with industry needs. Community colleges are critical to these efforts.

We now ask our State Legislators and Governor Murphy to restore New Jersey’s investment in community colleges in the FY 2026 State Budget.

Charts: