Dive Brief:
- New Jersey City University will pursue a merger with another public institution in the state, Kean University, per a decision by NJCU’s board of trustees.
- NJCU and Kean officials plan to sign a letter of intent and open up a formal due diligence process in the coming weeks, NJCU Interim President Andrés Acebo said in a community message.
- Early last year, a state-appointed monitor directed the struggling NJCU to find a financial partner. The selection of Kean as a merger partner meets the state-issued benchmark, Acebo and the board said.
Dive Insight:
Just under three years ago, NJCU declared a financial emergency, attributing the crisis to funding shortfalls and years of declining enrollment.
For years, the university had tried boosting scholarships, adding programs, spending more on student services and investing in real estate expansion projects — all in an effort to reverse its enrollment declines. Those efforts not only failed at their stated purpose, they “instead served to dramatically increase NJCU’s expenses,” New Jersey’s comptroller’s office said in 2023.
The same report alleged that the university “likely” broke federal law by using emergency pandemic relief funding to support an existing scholarship program. It also said administrators had failed to inform NJCU’s board of the university’s financial situation or formulate a plan to address its budget gap.
The dire situation led to leadership changes and a state-appointed monitor to help shepherd NJCU to financial sustainability.
By last fall, NJCU’s finances were already improving. In November, Fitch Ratings lifted the university’s outlook from negative to stable.
Analysts at the time cited “significant progress toward achieving fiscal balance despite continued pressure on student enrollment.” That improvement was due in large part to cost cuts at NJCU as well as state stabilization aid, which totaled $17 million split between fiscal years 2024 and 2025.
NJCU has also “reinvested in our facilities, stabilized our operations, and broadened our enrollment pipeline,” Acebo said in his message Wednesday.
Yet the university is still struggling with declining enrollment. Fall headcount declined to 5,833 students in 2023, down 10.8% compared with the year before and 27% lower than 2018 levels, according to federal data. NJ.com reported that in fall 2024, the university’s enrollment of first-year, full-time students rose 3% and transfers surged a whopping 28%, while total enrollment fell another 6%.
NJCU’s prospective merger partner has a far larger student body. Kean had 13,352 students in fall 2023, which has declined modestly — by 5% — from five years ago.
Acebo said that the possibility of merging with Kean, around 12 miles from NJCU, offers NJCU the opportunity to “expand our academic horizons and deepen our community impact.”
In a joint statement Thursday, New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Secretary of Higher Education Brian Bridges said that they were “encouraged by the forward-moving progress at NJCU” and said they were committed to the institution’s future, as it provides higher education access to regional students.
“The NJCU Board’s intent to pursue a strategic merger with Kean University continues this commitment and marks the beginning of a thorough and deliberative process to unify these mission-aligned institutions,” the officials said.
