(TRENTON) – An Assembly panel on Monday advanced legislation sponsored by Assembly Democrat Nancy Pinkin to ensure New Jersey colleges and universities are not overburdening students with exorbitant tuition hikes.
The bill (A-552) prohibits a public institution of higher education from increasing the institution resident undergraduate and graduate tuition and fees for any academic year by more than 4 percent over the institution’s resident undergraduate and graduate tuition and fees for the prior academic year.
“College students are graduating with mountains and mountains of financially debilitating student loan debt,” said Pinkin (D- Middlesex). “The debt load is also preventing them from achieving independence upon graduation. Many are unable to purchase homes or move to live on their own due to this debt. Something must be done to counter the burden of the rapidly rising cost of higher education placed on New Jersey’s college students.”
Graduate tuition and fees will include tuition and fees for students enrolled in a graduate degree program or a professional studies program, such as law, medicine, business, dentistry, nursing or pharmacy.
The bill was released by the Assembly Higher Education Committee.
