Rutgers should slash tuition 2.5 percent, coalition says

Rutgers One, a coalition that includes the faculty union and student groups, plans to hold a rally Thursday before a tuition hearing held by the Rutgers Board of Governors.

NEW BRUNSWICK -- Rutgers University should celebrate its 250^th anniversary by giving students a gift - a 2.5 percent tuition decrease, according to a coalition of student and faculty groups.

Rutgers One, a coalition that includes the faculty union and student groups, plans to hold a rally Thursday calling for the tuition cut before a hearing held by the Rutgers Board of Governors, the board that is preparing to set the state university's 2016-2017 tuition rates.

"The time is right and the money is available to take the revolutionary step of reducing tuition at Rutgers," said anthropology professor David Hughes, president of the Rutgers AAUP-AFT, the university's faculty union.

Rutgers 2015-2016 tuition hike

On the New Brunswick campus, the average in-state undergraduate currently pays $14,131 in tuition and fees annually to attend Rutgers. Once room and board are added to the bill, the average undergraduate pays about $26,185 a year.

A 2.5 percent tuition and fee decrease would save students about $353 a year.

University officials responded to the tuition decrease proposal with a statement saying the Rutgers board is trying to hold down student costs.

"The Board of Governors takes seriously keeping Rutgers affordable," university officials said in a statement. "It considers many factors when setting tuition rates. The wide range of costs, from meeting negotiated salary increases for faculty and staff, to the operational expenses of campuses spanning the state, as well as all revenues and available sources of state, federal and private funding have been fundamental in setting tuition rates in the past and will be this coming year."

The university administration also questioned why the faculty union is lobbying for lower tuition while also calling for higher salaries for professors. 

"The regular appeals from the unions to, on one hand raise salaries while on the other hand lower tuition, seem contradictory, at best," the statement said.

The Rutgers Board of Governors is expected to set 2016-2017 tuition in July. As it prepares to make its decision, the board is holding an open hearing Thursday at 6:30 p.m. for members of the university community to give their opinions on tuition.

The Rutgers One coalition plans to hold a 6 p.m. rally outside the Rutgers Student Center in New Brunswick before the hearing to call for a tuition decrease.

The rally follows a resolution approved last week by the executive council of Rutgers' faculty union that called for the Rutgers board to tap into surplus money in its budget to cut tuition for the entire 65,000-student university next fall.

Rutgers students have called for tuition freezes several times over the last few years, with no success. Since 2011, Rutgers' annual tuition hikes have ranged from 1.6 percent to 3.3 percent.

"If the administration wanted to do something particularly revolutionary in honor of our 250^th anniversary, a tuition decrease of 2.5 percent would fit the bill nicely," said Patrick Gibson, a junior computer science and American studies major from Metuchen and member of the Rutgers One coalition.