As it should be, much has been written in the PAW about the now critical need for our community to “stand up” for our cherished University. Ensuring our nation’s global preeminence in higher education and institutional independence are causes that have never been more urgent, especially at elite private (i.e., “independent”) colleges and universities like ours. However, I feel that there has been insufficient recognition in the media and elsewhere of the plight of other private colleges and universities — and, more importantly, their students — that possess far fewer of the resources that will be necessary for some of them to survive this “perfect storm” of challenges they are currently facing. My nonprofit association, the Independent Colleges and Universities of New Jersey (njcolleges.org), supports the presidents of the 13 private/independent universities in New Jersey, including Princeton.
A significant part of our efforts at ICUNJ involves raising funds to support Pell-eligible and/or first generation students who face financial challenges as they pursue their degrees. While our alma mater provides unprecedented financial assistance to such students in need, most of our schools do not have endowments or alumni support sufficient to deal with the recent cuts in student aid and institutional support and the confounding attacks on higher education in general. I should note that while Princeton contributes a significant amount of financial and other assistance to our association, it receives relatively little from our efforts when compared to the other 12 — which makes me even more proud to be an alum.
We all absolutely must “Stand Up” for Princeton, but I would ask that we also consider what we can do to support other private institutions in our state and in the nation that are now facing potentially debilitating state and federal cuts in student aid, along with reduced institutional support and harmful regulation. You think we have it bad …
Editor’s note: Steve Reynolds ’80 is president and CEO of the Independent Colleges and Universities of New Jersey.
As it should be, much has been written in the PAW about the now critical need for our community to “stand up” for our cherished University. Ensuring our nation’s global preeminence in higher education and institutional independence are causes that have never been more urgent, especially at elite private (i.e., “independent”) colleges and universities like ours. However, I feel that there has been insufficient recognition in the media and elsewhere of the plight of other private colleges and universities — and, more importantly, their students — that possess far fewer of the resources that will be necessary for some of them to survive this “perfect storm” of challenges they are currently facing. My nonprofit association, the Independent Colleges and Universities of New Jersey (njcolleges.org), supports the presidents of the 13 private/independent universities in New Jersey, including Princeton.
A significant part of our efforts at ICUNJ involves raising funds to support Pell-eligible and/or first generation students who face financial challenges as they pursue their degrees. While our alma mater provides unprecedented financial assistance to such students in need, most of our schools do not have endowments or alumni support sufficient to deal with the recent cuts in student aid and institutional support and the confounding attacks on higher education in general. I should note that while Princeton contributes a significant amount of financial and other assistance to our association, it receives relatively little from our efforts when compared to the other 12 — which makes me even more proud to be an alum.
We all absolutely must “Stand Up” for Princeton, but I would ask that we also consider what we can do to support other private institutions in our state and in the nation that are now facing potentially debilitating state and federal cuts in student aid, along with reduced institutional support and harmful regulation. You think we have it bad …
Editor’s note: Steve Reynolds ’80 is president and CEO of the Independent Colleges and Universities of New Jersey.