Education a Priority for New Brunswick Residents
By: Ken Kurtulik and Kelsi Brown
When it comes to the policy of New Jersey’s next governor, New Brunswick residents support funding education.
During the second gubernatorial debate, Democratic candidate Phil Murphy said free community college would cost $200 million within New Jersey’s $35 billion budget.
“[Education] is expensive, but it’s worth it,” said 65-year-old New Brunswick resident Vincent Rifici. Offering free community college is an affordable way to get more people into the college system, he added.
Education can only work to a person’s benefit, Rifici said. Socioeconomic measure, financial standing and health all seem to correlate with the level of education a person achieves, he said.
Rifici used to work as a researcher in the department of medicine at the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School before he retired. His experience lecturing, advising students and writing journal articles informs his stance on education.
“If there is an anti-education sentiment anywhere, I think it’s misguided,” Rifici said.
During election debates, Republican candidate Kim Guadagno argued that free college would raise taxes, and that forcing New Jersey taxpayers to foot the bill for tuition was especially unfair if the student could afford to pay his or her own way.
But 61-year-old New Brunswick resident Susan Painter argues that a college degree or education in a trade is essential. Data shows that education affects both the well-being and the earning potential of an individual, she added.
Skills learned as an undergraduate lay a foundation that later differentiates workers in the job market. Even people with a bachelor’s degree often run into roadblocks these days, Painter said.
An advanced degree, such as a masters, is often required to progress in a career, she said. Painter, for example, went back to school to earn a master’s degree from Rutgers in 2013.
If the secondary school system in New Brunswick was better, the town would be a much nicer place, Painter said. The middle class has fled New Brunswick due to its public school system.
“Most people I know, most friends that stay here after college, once they start having children, they move because the school system is just not very good,” Painter said.
As one of three kids, Lisa Swyzen always knew she would have to contribute to her college education.
Her parents are paying for her tuition, but housing is on her. In order to live in New Brunswick while attending Rutgers University, Swyzen has had to wait tables and serve drinks at a local restaurant to pay her rent.
“It’s been hard to get the money into my landlord on time some months,” Swyzen said.
Swyzen is not alone. After watching last month’s debate between Kim Guadagno and Phil Murphy, one concern stood out for several New Brunswick residents who attended an NJ Spark watch party: Education.
In the debate, Murphy pledged to make community college tuition affordable, a promise that was met with approval by those who attended the debate watch party. Some attendees, with children in or hoping to enroll in Rutgers, worried they would not be able to pay for their children’s education.
Emily Davis shared some of her opinions following the debate. Overall, she sided with Murphy, the Democratic candidate, over Guadagno, the Republican candidate. Davis said Guadagno did not offer solutions to cheaper education.
Davis says her parents constantly struggle with the property tax changes. They do not have kids in the education system anymore besides for Davis who is a junior at Rutgers now. Her parents want there to be a cap on police and firefighter salaries because they believe the cops do not do a great job in their town. This way, more money could also be used towards the school system, Davis said.
Another comment made by Davis is that Murphy makes a lot of promises, but does not state any set plans on how his promises would be accomplished. Why share promises that cannot be fulfilled? If he does have plans, why not state them to reassure the public, she said. If Murphy is elected and does not keep to his word, there will be a lot of angry New Jerseyans, Davis said.
Within the next two years (after graduating) Davis hopes to leave the state of New Jersey. She explained that laws and decisions made by the new governor will not affect her directly, but she does worry about her parents. If Rutgers tuition increases, Davis said her parents will have to spend more money on her. If property taxes also increase, it may get to be too much to handle. Davis does not want laws to dictate the way her parents spend their money.
Swyzen is another student that feels strongly towards education. Her parents also pay for her to attend Rutgers, as they did for her brother before her. The Swyzens also still have a younger son in the education system. Lowering taxes that would be used towards school funding would make sense to the family, Swyzen said. Once the youngest brother goes into college they have no reason to want to support their town’s school system. Instead, they will be focusing on yet another child’s college tuition, Swyzen said..
Swyzen said the cost of education does not affect her personally, but it has affected her parents. Some parents will pay for tuition and housing for their children, but being one of three kids means Swyzen has to pay her own housing. If tuition was lower or free at some institutions, her parents could have also covered college housing, allowing her to save up her money for a post-college life, Swyzen said. Swyzen is graduating this May and plans on staying in New Jersey for a while, she said.
New Brunswick resident Reynalda Cruz believes that education reform is needed since, she said, higher education is inaccessible for a large number of students.
“It’s not just the cost of getting in, but also that there aren’t enough resources for students,” said Cruz, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1997. “I really hope they’re going to start giving students more, but it’s a really complicated system.”
Cruz works for New Labor, an organization that fights for the rights of mistreated workers. There, she said she has seen the burden that high education cost has on members of the community.
“At our job, it really helps,” she added, “it really helps you understand, because we have people who are working two jobs just to survive and support their family.”
While Cruz herself has never finished high school, she has a daughter studying at Rutgers University as well as a son who is applying for college. While she is proud of them, she said she worries about being able to afford the growing costs of a college education.
“For the amount of money I make,” Cruz said, “there aren’t enough scholarships, and without one, I can’t really afford to send him to school. There are a lot of incurred costs that I can’t really handle.”
Cruz is also worried that the rising cost of education might affect some students more than others. She worries about the challenges they will face, she said, in light of Pres. Donald Trump’s rescinding of the Deferred Action for Children, or DACA, a federal program that protected from deportation immigrants who were brought to the United States as children and do not have legal residency.
“Since they’re taking away some protections for students regarding their citizenship,” Cruz added, “I’m worried that they’re going to start charging them more, especially since they’re charging them a little bit more as it is. That’s what my biggest fear is.”
New Brunswick resident Germania Hernandez, who also works for New Labor and moved to the country in 2004, shares these concerns over the difficulty of affording higher education. She believes that these costs can force parents into difficult situations, at the expense of their child’s education.
“In some cases, schools are designed to exclude certain kinds of people. Education can be costly, and costs are shifted on to the student or their parents,” said Hernandez. “Sometimes, in order avoid those difficult financial decisions, they end up stopping education because they can’t afford it.”
Hernandez is also worried about how scholarships are given out. Without them, she isn’t sure if she’ll be able to help her son pay for college.
“He has hopes and aspirations about being able to continue his education,” Hernandez said about her son, who is studying at Middlesex Community College and hopes to study at Rutgers. “I fear that while there are scholarships and other programs, it might not be enough to financially help.”
Hernandez is hopeful that with Phil Murphy as governor, education will become more affordable for those who otherwise couldn’t pay for it.
“I really hope there are programs that people can go into which make it easier to obtain an education, or another alternative route,” Hernandez said. “Especially for the immigrant community, as it would greatly benefit them.”
Hernandez, who received the equivalent of a bachelor’s degree in accounting from the University of Santo Domingo, believes it should be easier for people in New Jersey to access higher education.
“I have friends whose kids are having to pay for their own education,” she said. “Because they can’t access certain programs, there’s no way for them to really get into the system. I hope there’s a way for us to accommodate those students and help them out.”
