NEW JERSEY COMMISSION ON HIGHER EDUCATION

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 28, 2000
CONTACT: Jeanne Oswald
(609) 292-4310

Colleges and Universities See Performance Funding Rewards

The New Jersey Commission on Higher Education today announced that the state's public colleges and universities earned $8 million in the first year of higher education performance funding.

Governor Christine Whitman created the performance funding initiative to strengthen higher education accountability, foster institutional improvement, and focus on statewide goals. A portion of the FY 2000 funding increase for each public college and university is based on achieving or making progress toward established benchmarks in four key areas identified by the Governor:

Institutions earn up to an additional 1 percent in state operating aid based upon their performance in these areas.

Collectively, the four-year public institutions were eligible for up to $7.5 million in performance increases and the community colleges could earn up to $1.2 million. Overall, the 31 public colleges and universities earned 92 percent of the total earmarked for performance.

"These results demonstrate that rewarding higher education institutions for performance in targeted areas provides accountability as well as an incentive for improvement," said Governor Whitman. "I am pleased that the colleges performed so well and earned such a high percentage of the money available through performance funding."

The targeted performance areas are consistent with statewide goals identified in New Jersey's Plan for Higher Education. Specific indicators and benchmarks for each public higher education sector were developed in collaboration with sector representatives to reflect differing missions. Colleges and universities are not compared to each other, but are evaluated with respect to their own performance and improvement.

Each institution successfully addressed the goal of improved efficiency and effectiveness, with nearly all earning maximum funding for performance on indicators such as interinstitutional collaboration and a small percentage of low-enrollment programs.

Colleges and universities in all sectors also fared well on indicators measuring student transfer and articulation. Nearly all of the four-year institutions received maximum funding in this area. Most of the 19 community colleges achieved benchmarks or demonstrated improvement in various student transfer measures.

The majority of colleges and universities were successful in addressing the goal of improved graduation rates. Two-thirds of the senior public institutions met benchmarks or showed progress in graduation rates and time to degree completion. Among the community colleges, performance was mixed on more broadly defined measures of student success.

While the majority of institutions addressed the goal of more diversified revenues, a number in all sectors need to focus more intensively on generating more funding from sources beyond state/local government and student tuition.

"This first round of performance funding rewards institutions that are doing well in key areas and stimulates continued improvement in future years," said Alfred J. Cade, chairman of the Commission on Higher Education. "I am very encouraged by these positive results, which demonstrate continued progress toward New Jersey's vision for higher education excellence."

The Commission will work with colleges and universities to review and refine the indicators and benchmarks that will be used to derive performance funding allocations in future years.

A list of performance funding awards for individual colleges and universities is attached.

# # #

Higher Education

Performance Funding Awards

FY 2000

Institution

Performance Funding Awards

New Jersey Institute of Technology

$ 315,840

Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey

$ 2,784,000

University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey

$ 1,713,000

College of New Jersey

$ 279,672

Kean University

$ 335,000

Montclair State University

$ 423,000

New Jersey City University

$ 245,735

Ramapo State College

$ 118,864

Richard Stockton College of New Jersey

$ 201,000

Rowan University

$ 306,250

Thomas Edison State College

$ 59,000

William Paterson University of New Jersey

$ 356,376

Total - Senior Publics

$ 7,137,737

Atlantic Cape Community College

$ 33,244

Bergen Community College

$ 79,075

Brookdale Community College

$ 79,839

Burlington County College

$ 39,259

Camden County College

$ 73,406

Cumberland County College

$ 17,423

Essex County College

$ 60,388

Gloucester County College

$ 37,621

Hudson County Community College

$ 28,159

Mercer County Community College

$ 63,893

Middlesex County College

$ 78,147

County College of Morris

$ 66,226

Ocean County College

$ 56,020

Passaic County Community College

$ 30,973

Raritan Valley Community College

$ 32,471

Salem Community College

$ 15,546

Sussex County Community College

$ 21,071

Union County College

$ 74,985

Warren County Community College

$ 12,411

Total - Community Colleges

$ 900,157

TOTAL - ALL PUBLIC INSTITUTIONS

$ 8,037,894


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