Rutgers Honors College has potential but its still hobbled by the limited vision of an administration that doesn’t think like a competitive college. They created the special dorms with seminar classrooms and marketed it. But after the first year it just turns into students being members of the same honor programs by major that others who were not part of the Honors College can be admitted to. So its really just a special freshman boost for the most part, not fully developed. And they pretty much just admit by high HS GPA, not holistically, let alone balanced by test scores or accomplishments, etc.
Agreed. The irony is that RU had an “honors” campus (College Ave./Rutgers College) back in the day…and surrendered that (I’d bet because a consultant told them how) to improve efficiency and save money. Lost in the mix was the impact that eliminating the competitive aspects of the separate colleges would have on the overall reputation.
NJ-born student attending college out of state here. In my high school’s graduating class (boarding school, but ~50% of students are from NJ), <10 people are attending college in Jersey, almost all of whom go to Princeton; every single person I know who was admitted early to Princeton also applied elsewhere RD, and all of those who got into another school went there instead.
Personally, I go to a small college in the middle of nowhere, but I meet people from Jersey all the time. I haven’t gone a single day without seeing an NJ license plate here. I spent the holiday weekend at an even more secluded college (to the extent that there was no cell service through half the ride), and yet still saw multiple NJ plates each day. It seems as if we are everywhere.
Echoing everyone else, I think that students here just don’t find going to school in-state appealing. I know that I was secretly hoping for a Princeton rejection throughout much of my college process (having been forced to apply by by parents), which I unsurprisingly received, and as I mentioned above, everyone in my grade who did get into Princeton but had another option chose said school instead. There are certainly some aspects of Rutgers I find appealing—especially the strong Indian-American community, which I find is lacking at my own school—but even though my family would have paid significantly less there than at any of the OOS publics or privates I was admitted to, we all subconsciously were not considering it at all as soon as I got my second acceptance letter.
I don’t think Rutgers will struggle, but I can certainly see not just Drew, but also Stevens, Rider, and TCNJ having issues in the next few years. The privates especially are just not worth it when Rutgers is both cheaper and academically stronger than all of those.
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Nothing you said surprises me. My own kids felt the same. They love NJ… but there just aren’t the same options for college as there are in NY, PA, MA, CT.
They also both attended college in PA…closer to home than New Brunswick. The options for Jersey kids so close to home out of state is a big factor why NJ never developed selective LACs.
For the record… TCNJ is a public college.
Rutgers is the state flagship. Purdue…or Auburn or Clemson aren’t really a fair comparison.
Seems like Rutgers is doing fine and 82% of its students are in state.
The thread is about closing. Not sure how we got on Rutgers.
They aren’t closing.
In fact they have an AA3 Moody’s credit rating and A+ S&P rating.
They are near bulletproof.
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TCNJ is public
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I agree with @tsbna44 - let’s get back on track.
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Northwestern College is closing down in Illinois. Northwestern University must be happy 
to have them gone. Yet another closing! Seems to be getting worse as the year progresses.
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I hope that the school wasn’t currently running classes. If they were, shame on them. It’s not as if financial issues materialize out of thin air … schools should not be closing immediately. Students should be allowed to complete current courses.
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Please stay on topic! Thank you!
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Please keep posts on topic to college closings. There are other threads in the Politics Forum more appropriate for discussing campus protests and policies. Unless those directly led to a college closing, they are off topic here. Thank you.
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I know it’s a small school. But this one makes me sad. My maid of honor graduated from there…and part of her bequest when she died was to the college…and it was generous.
It’s a shame when schools like this close as they really met a need. But as noted…it’s hard to make ends meet for such a small school.
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We live in an increasingly complex world, and colleges have to respond to those demands. When I was in college, we had to wait our turn to use the computers, and yes, there were punch cards involved. There was no internet, and no one worried about being hacked. Campus wide computer systems weren’t a thing, and hacking wasn’t a concern (other than protecting against someone getting into the local system - typically for something like changing a grade). Students didn’t need assistance with networking their computers. Schools didn’t need cybersecurity teams. Mental health was not given much thought, and even less monetary support. Students who were unhappy left - if they stayed, they sucked it up quietly. Dorm rooms were spartan. Labs were often equipped with bare essentials, focusing on teaching the basics.
The world has changed, and expectations of colleges have changed. Some may arguably be unnecessary in the strict sense (perhaps no frills dorms are not necessary), but some things (like everything related to the explosion of technology) are necessary. It all happened relatively quickly, if you consider technological advances. It’s just really hard to operate in the way schools used to operate, and not all schools are able to make it financially today. It makes me sad, because small schools can be so wonderful and offer their students a fine education.
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Yup. We had two keypunch rooms in the basements of two buildings.
That was the limit of our tech world. Remember FORTRAN?
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And COBOL.
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Aside
I have a friend whose job is extremely secure since the company she works for, like many financial companies, have extensive financial programs written in COBOL. She knows how to program in COBOL. Absolutely no way to hire a kid just out of college to do that cheaply to replace her, you can’t outsource to another country either. Until they replace the software, they cannot afford to get rid of her.
/Aside
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