Assemblywoman Annette Chaparro (D-33) is sponsoring a measure seeking $25 million in state funding for New Jersey City University as the institution fights to work through financial struggles.
By John Heinis/Hudson County View
“It’s important to me that we support NJCU wholeheartedly, not just put a band-aid on it. 60% of the students are from Hudson County. 60% are from Latino, Black, and brown families,” Chaparro told HCV.
“We cannot add to their struggles. Interim President Andres Acebo is doing everything in his power to fix what was left behind and doing an amazing job. I stand with our NJCU family and requested $25 million in a budget resolution.”
State Senator Brian Stack (D-33), also the Union City mayor, is sponsoring legislation in the upper chamber seeking $10 million for the Jersey City-based university and is also expected to be considered as part of the state budget.
NJCU has about an $11 million deficit this year and had began undertaking some cost cutting initiatives at the end of 2022.
A report by the Office of the New Jersey Comptroller released last month noted that former administrators “likely violated federal law” by considering using $14 million in COVID-19 relief funds to cover the costs of a scholarship program, blaming most of their financial shortcomings on former President Dr. Sue Henderson.
Recently, the Hudson County Chamber of Commerce and the Boys to Leaders Foundation, a local nonprofit, have come out in support of NJCU and Acebo.
Chaparro, who ran alongside Stack four times, did not seek re-election on Tuesday after redistricting moved her into the new 32nd Legislative District, where Assemblyman Raj Mukherji, her other long time running mate in LD-33, is likely to be the state senator.
He ran unopposed in the primary, as did his running mates, John Allen and Jessica Ramirez, two newcomers to the state Assembly role.