Community college leaders, students urge legislature to restore $20 million in operating aid

Lede Community college presidents and students from across New Jersey told the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee during a hearing at NJIT that a proposed $20,000,000 cut to operating aid and reductions in student financial assistance would reduce student supports, shrink workforce pipelines and force program rollbacks.

Nut graf Speakers representing 10 of the state’s 18 community colleges said the cuts would hit programs that contribute nurses, radiography technicians, manufacturing workers and other credentialed graduates directly into the state economy. They urged the Legislature to restore the funds and said the colleges could not replace state dollars with local revenue.

Body Maggie McMenemin, president of Union County College, told the committee that the proposed $20,000,000 reduction “threatens the very programs and initiatives that have funded our progress.” She said student success initiatives — guided pathways, tutoring and other supports — are the reason graduation rates have risen at her college.

Tony Iacono, president of County College of Morris, described repeated calls from local employers asking how the cut would affect the pipeline of graduates employers hire. “This $20,000,000 cut doesn't simply hit our colleges, it hits our communities very hard,” he said.

Several presidents cited recent increases in operating costs, inflation-driven health insurance increases (one college cited a roughly $13,000,000 rise in health insurance costs), and uncertainty about federal funding as compounding factors. They said much of the funding restored in recent budgets had been supplemental and therefore vulnerable to removal in the governor’s proposed FY26 budget.

Students also testified about personal impacts. Landon Teneri, student government president at County College of Morris, described community colleges as “an affordable option” that allowed him to transfer to Rutgers. Other students from Hudson, Essex and Ocean counties told the committee about food insecurity, access to counselors, veteran services and job-training supports that would be damaged by the cuts.

Committee reaction and context Committee members acknowledged bipartisan sympathy for community colleges’ role but asked colleges to document how supplemental line items were allocated. Senators noted that some recent additions were one-time or legislative supplemental appropriations rather than permanent base funding, a point college leaders also raised.

Ending College representatives left the hearing asking the Senate to restore operating aid and financial-aid lines during budget negotiations, saying the cuts would undermine the colleges’ role in supplying critical workers and in helping low- and moderate-income residents access higher education.