Tuition is going up by almost four percent starting this summer and next fall. The plan was presented to students and staff by Dr. Mark Harris, the College’s Vice President of Finance and Administration, at a meeting in CM 108 on Tuesday, February 19. The Board of Trustees approved the increase at their meeting on Thursday, February 21.
Mercer’s tuition has risen steadily over the last ten years, with typical increases being about 3-4 percent for a total increase of 30.4 percent since 2009.
In the last five years, students have gone from paying $112.50 per credit in 2014 to $137.25 per credit now. But these numbers don’t include the technology fee ($19 per credit), the college fee ($19 per credit), nor any fees associated with lab science, medical and aviation courses.
Once college and tech fees are included students are paying $175.25 per credit today and will be paying $182.50 after the tuition increase takes effect this summer. According to institutional data maintained by New Jersey’s Office of the Secretary of Education Mercer’s tuition is currently sixth highest of the state’s 19 community colleges.
Zeke Wagner, a Plant Science Major says, “To have to be affected by needing more money for classes or credits, I’m screwed… This semester, I almost took 16 credits. It would still be full time, still be four classes, just higher levels, and I wasn’t able to because I wasn’t able to save enough money… So if there was any increase, five dollars, ten dollars per credit, anything, it would add up pretty quickly. I can barely pay for it now, so I’m not going to be able to pay for it then.”
**All for charts from MCCC institutional records. DATA: Drew Mumich
Dr. Harris told students the main reason for the tuition hike is to improve student experience, including renovating spaces that students occupy and providing gender-neutral bathrooms.
Typically tuition hikes are around 3-4 percent, but 2018 saw a jump of 7.8 percent.
Asked about the steep increase Dr. Harris said, “Last year we were focused mainly on computers. This year, one of the primary focus is looking at the number of student spaces, where students can, once you’re finished with class, where you can just hang out, study or just relax. Also really look at classrooms themselves, looking at the furniture to make sure we are up-to-dating the seating, or the lighting, or any other interactive tool that the student will get the full experience,”
**All for charts from MCCC institutional records. DATA: Drew Mumich
Brian McCloskey, Executive Director for Finance and Accounting at Mercer explains what the college fee funds saying, “Student support centers, the counseling center, the transfer services, the library, Tutoring Center, these are all services the fee helps support, as well as helping fund all the athletics, and the clubs.”
Dr. Harris adds, “Assisting you to complete, we have added more tutors. We have added significantly more hours, we have done E-Tutoring, and having embedded tutors in the classroom.”
Charles Haas, the coordinator for the Tutoring Center, says the highest paid tutors receive $12 per hour.
“If you noticed the longer hours at the West Windsor Learning Center this semester (Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday until 9 pm), that is because of the Community College Opportunity Grant funds professional tutors. [They are] all paid through CCOG. If given more funds, I would definitely give the current staff more hours.”
**All for charts from MCCC institutional records. DATA: Drew Mumich
Gregory Jose Menthu, a fourth-semester business administration major, currently works two jobs totaling 35 hours per week and is taking five classes packed into two days per week splitting the costs of his tuition with his parents. Last semester he noticed a $200 increase to his tuition in when taking 12 credits.
“Over the summer I tend to work my ass off for those 3 months and I save up most of it during that time,” Menthu says.
Menthu is not alone. The VOICE surveyed 33 students and found 51 percent of students work more than ten hours per week, with 30 percent of them paying for tuition by themselves. According to Mercer’s financial aid information, about 60 percent of students apply for financial aid and 40 percent receive it.
College President Dr. Jianping Wang says, “That’s the balance we are trying to strike, not to raise tuition too much so that one class of students bear all the burden, you know, so we are going to do a little bit of increasing every year so that everyone shares a little bit of burden.”
Zeke Wagner says, “Yeah, it’s for a good cause. Yeah, it’s for a good reason. Yeah, it will benefit the people that are coming and walking in my footsteps. But will it benefit me financially? I will struggle the future because of that.”
