TEDESCO, BERGEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE APPLAUD LEGISLATORS FOR RESTORING FUNDING FOR NJ COMMUNITY COLLEGES

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

July 16, 2024

MEDIA CONTACT:

Derek Sands

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TEDESCO, BERGEN COMMUNITY COLLEGE APPLAUD LEGISLATORS FOR RESTORING FUNDING FOR NJ COMMUNITY COLLEGES

FY2025 Budget Includes Over $290 Million in Aid to Community Colleges

(HACKENSACK, N.J.) - On Tuesday, June 28th, Governor Phil Murphy signed the Fiscal Year 2025 (FY2025) New Jersey state budget into law which restored $20 million in potential cuts to New Jersey community colleges.

This comes as welcome news to Bergen County Executive James J. Tedesco, III and Bergen Community College President Dr. Eric Friedman who joined several local officials at the State Senate's Public Budget Hearing on March 19^th to testify in support of restoring this critical source of funding. At the time, the budget as proposed included a $20 million decrease in funding for community colleges from Fiscal Year 2024. The decrease would have resulted in a loss of $1.8 million for Bergen Community College, the largest community college in the State of New Jersey.

"I commend the Legislature and the Governor's Office for working together to come to this agreement and restore this crucial funding," said Bergen County Executive Tedesco. "Community colleges offer our students an affordable pathway to undergraduate degrees. With this sustained level of funding, Bergen Community College will be able to continue its mission as the State's top-ranked community college, allowing us to better serve Bergen County's residents and expand access to higher and continuing education."

"Bergen Community College students encounter innumerable pressures as they seek to earn a college degree that enhances their social and economic mobility," Bergen Community College President Eric M. Friedman, Ph.D., said. "It is on us as leaders to ease burdens that may disrupt students' progress to earning a degree. I am grateful for our Bergen County government partners who consistently advocate on our students' behalf, including Bergen County Executive James J. Tedesco III, whose passionate testimony before the State Senate budget committee gave voice to the thousands of New Jersey community college students who can least afford additional barriers to their education."

(You can view County Executive Tedesco's full State Senate Public Budget Hearing testimony here)

Based in Paramus, Bergen Community College (www.bergen.edu), a public two-year coeducational college, enrolls more than 13,000 students at locations in Paramus, the Philip Ciarco Jr. Learning Center in Hackensack and Bergen Community College at the Meadowlands in Lyndhurst. The College offers associate degree, certificate and continuing education programs in a variety of fields. More students graduate from Bergen than any other community college in the state.

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