PROFILE: THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY, EWING, NJ
This is the first of a series of U.S. college and university profiles for 2011-13 and it will be
continually updated as new information becomes available to prospective students and
their families as well as the author. Statistics provided for this profile have been provided
from a variety of sources, most notably the U.S. Department of Education and the school
itself. Any use or reproduction of this profile without the expressed permission of the
author is prohibited.
ED QUEST’S REPORT CARD
Freshman
Retention
A
4 YR/6YR
Grad Rates
A
Costs
B+
ComfortsHousing
B
(Freshmen)
A
(All others)
Community
-Campus/
Environs
CurriculumAcademics/
Experiential
Learning
Connection
s-Alumni
Network/
Career
Services
B+
A
B+
Strengths
Location, Housing Options, Academic
majors in a large school found in a
small school setting, Attractive campus,
Merit scholarships, Bonner service
program, Innovative four-course per
semester curriculum
Weaknesses
High sticker price for a state school,
Freshman “no-car” rule not well supported
by mass transit options, perception as a
“suitcase school,” in part because of small
percentage of out-of-state students, Little
brand recognition outside of New Jersey
and Philadelphia area
Background and History of the College of New Jersey
The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) might be called a Public Ivy, but it may be more
appropriately labeled as the “budget Bucknell.”. The aerial view from the virtual tour of
Bucknell and a mouse-over of the virtual tour map of TCNJ show very similar Georgian
architectural styles and colors and crisscrossed walkways.
The comparison is complementary beyond appearances. TCNJ and Bucknell offers
degree programs in business, education, engineering and the liberal arts. Neither school
grants many graduate degrees; those that are granted by both schools are mainly in
education-related subjects. Both schools have median SATs over 1,250 and both retain
95 percent of their entering freshman classes.
But TCNJ could also be called a “bulging Bucknell.” Bucknell has 450 acres of land,
TCNJ has only 289 while Bucknell has about half as many students (3,400 vs. 6,500).
However, Bucknellians also pay twice the money ($54,000 versus $27,000) for the extra
breathing room.
The Bucknell example also shows that TCNJ is a school that is very difficult to
categorize. Bucknell is classified as a national liberal arts college while TCNJ is listed as
a regional master’s degree granting university. Sister schools in the same class as
TCNJ that have similarly high retention and graduation rates include Elon University
(NC), Providence College (RI), Villanova University (PA) and the University of Scranton
(PA). SUNY-Geneseo, publicized as the State University of New York’s honors college,
and Millersville University (PA) are the most similar public schools in neighboring states.
Like TCNJ, these schools were founded as teacher’s colleges; education related
subjects are still a significant share of the school’s academic programs.
Founded in 1855 as the New Jersey Normal School, TCNJ was the first teacher training
college in the Garden State and the ninth in the entire country. In 1925, the school
granted its first four-year bachelor’s degrees. Three years later, the college broke
construction on the first building, Green Hall, now the main administration building, on its
current site in Ewing. In 1935, Bliss Hall, now the offices for the college’s English
department, opened as the first residence hall on the Ewing campus. From its founding
through 1958, the school went through five name changes before becoming Trenton
State College. The academic direction also shifted. By 1966, the passage of the federal
Higher Education Act had set the college on a course to become a more comprehensive
institution offering degrees in business, communications, engineering and nursing,
among other fields. By 1972, only 30 percent of the college’s students pursued
education-related degrees. In 1996, Trenton State College changed its name to The
College of New Jersey. Trenton State’s decision was about “rebranding.” Marvin
Greenburg, then chairman of the college’s board of trustees, said that the new name
would “more accurately reflect the college's mission and scope of service to all New
Jersey residents.” In addition, the college had not been in Trenton for more than six
decades. But Trenton State’s name change was controversial. Princeton University had
been known as The College of New Jersey upon its founding in 1746. Princeton’s
trustees believed that they held the rights to the name, but after filing unsuccessful
trademark protection suits they learned that they did not.
However, the shift in the focus of TCNJ from teacher education to a hybrid of liberal arts
and pre-professional education did not begin happen from just a name change. Three
pieces of state legislation passed between 1986 and 1994 enabled TCNJ, as well as
eight other state-supported colleges, to become more autonomous. Direction, missions,
admissions policies, degree requirements and even control over tuition, fees and
endowments shifted from the state’s Department of Higher Education to the colleges
themselves. Each college was also allowed go to the state’s Higher Education
Assistance Authority to finance non-revenue producing facilities such as classroom
buildings and laboratories. Lastly, in 1994, the state dissolved the Department of Higher
Education, and put in its place a non-cabinet level advisory commission and a
President’s Council comprised of the public college and university presidents to advise
them.
Independence meant that a dynamic leader had to be in place to manage change. Hired
in 1979, former president Harold Eickhoff had previously overseen the transition of the
University of Missouri-St. Louis from a two-year college to a four-year institution. From
1979 through 1998 Eichkoff and his administration reduced the college’s acceptance
rate and the size of the freshman class. They aggressively used financial aid to recruit
top New Jersey students. They also increased the number of beds on campus from less
than 2,200 to approximately 3,600, and launched the First Year Experience program
which continues to combines learning and residence life. Construction of a 7,000 seat
football stadium was completed. New facilities for the biological sciences, business,
music and social sciences departments were completed about a year and a half after the
president left office.
According to the college’s Fact Book archives, TCNJ had slightly less than 5,800
undergraduates upon the 1996 renaming. Approximately half were liberal arts majors
while 18 percent concentrated in an education field and 16 percent studied business
subjects. Only four percent studied nursing; the same percentage studied engineering.
In 2010-11, TCNJ had enrolled slightly less than 6,500 students. Liberal arts programs
had been directed into two schools: the School of Arts and Communications and the
School of Culture and Society. These two schools now enroll 36 percent of all
undergraduates.
The business school has remained steady at 16 percent while
education enrollment has slid down to 12 percent. Nursing, health and exercise and
engineering enrollments have each risen to nine percent.
In actual numbers engineering enrollment doubled between 2001 and 2010 from 280 to
560 students while enrollment at the School of Nursing, Health and Exercise Science
nearly quadrupled from 148 to 561 students. Arts and Communications enrollment rose
by 61 percent, from just over 400 students to just over 650. Education enrollment
dropped 25 percent from 1,000 to around 750 students. Business enrollments dropped
by 23 percent from 2001 through 2006, though they grew ten percent four years later.
Programs in Culture and Society, mainly humanities programs, have fluctuated between
1,600 and 1,800 students.
During the Eickhoff years and through the term of Barbara Gitenstein, Eickhoff’s
successor, there was room to grow. The neo-Georgian look mandated for new buildings
—it is even used on the façades of the most recently constructed parking decks—has
left TCNJ with a very attractive residential campus, one that looks more “collegial” than
any other public college in New Jersey, excluding the College Avenue and Douglass
campuses at Rutgers-New Brunswick. The difference is that Rutgers has tried to respect
its historical roots from smaller schools while emerging as a large national research
university with nearly 30,000 undergraduates. TCNJ has tried to grow physically while
also trying to maintain the character of a small college.
Competition
The school’s 2010-11 Common Data Set report mentions that TCNJ believes that
academic rigor within the high school program, class rank, extracurricular activities,
volunteer work experience and standardized test results are “Very Important,” while the
overall high school GPA is “considered.” Special talents/abilities, recommendations, the
essay, character and residence are “Important.” Level of Applicant Interest, which could
mean whether or not the school is a student’s first preference, is “Considered.”
Unlike many public and private colleges, TCNJ asks freshman applicants to indicate a
school and major when they apply, and this is considered in the admissions decision.
Gaining admission as a biology major, as one example, typically requires not only
excellent grades, but also SAT scores in excess of 1,400. Other major programs have
more spaces available. Upon acceptance of an offer of admission, students are placed
in one of seven schools: Arts and Communication, Business, Education, Engineering,
Humanities and Social Sciences, Nursing/Health/Exercise Science and Science. As
freshman they are listed as “open option” students until they formally begin the
coursework in their major.
The 2010-11 freshman class performed exceptionally well on standardized tests. Among
the entering freshman class in 2009-10, 61 percent had SAT Verbal (aka Critical
Reading) scores of 600 or better, 72 percent had Math scores of 600 or higher and 62
percent scored 600 or better on the Writing portion of the test.
Unless a student can demonstrate some special talents of interest to the college
community, s/he will likely need to score 600 or better on at least one section of the SAT.
A full set of SATs below 1,800, without one score over 600, will likely place a candidate
in the bottom quarter of the applicant pool, or possibly on the waiting list. A long list of
extracurricular activities are unlikely to offset a low test score unless there were
significant creative or leadership achievements that help a candidate stand out from the
rest of the applicant pool.
According to the TCNJ 2010-11 Fact Book, the college accepted slightly more than half
of all applicants as late as 2002. By 2010, the acceptance rate had declined to 47
percent. It had actually gotten as low as 42 percent in 2008. However, from 2002
through 2010 applications increased every year from slightly more than 6,300 to slightly
less than 10,000, a rise of 57 percent. The statistics for the entering class for 2011-12
were quite similar, according to Lisa Angeloni, the college’s associate provost for
enrollment management. The bump in the acceptance rate, combined with the
tremendous spike in the number of applications, suggests that TCNJ is attracting more
of the type of applicants it wants, and the school is accepting them.
There are two reasons for the bump in applications. One is that TCNJ has participated in
the Common Application online for the past five years; many applicants consider other
schools that also use this tool. Another is the effectiveness of the rebranding and media
coverage of the school. TCNJ appears high in value rankings in Kiplinger’s and U.S.
News; the latter ranks the college as the top master’s degree granting institution in the
northern states. The positive attention received by the school has helped attract more
prospects not only from New Jersey but also Long Island and New York’s Hudson River
Valley, Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Delaware, Angeloni says.
As TCNJ became more selective it attracted better students. But the college also put
itself in a quandary. In 2002, TCNJ had a yield rate, the percentage of accepted students
who choose to come, of 41 percent. For the freshman class that entered in 2010 the
yield rate was 30 percent. The yield rate for applicants to the 2011-12 freshman class,
said Angeloni, was 31 percent. The admitted students had more choices, including
highly selective, better-endowed public and private schools.
The declining yield rate also suggests that the accepted applicants were more likely to
consider TCNJ equally with other target schools; it was not necessarily their first choice.
Their options might have been top liberal arts schools like Bucknell, privately-supported
regional schools such as Villanova, Ivy League institutions and similar private schools
such as Boston College and New York University, and large public research universities
like Delaware, Penn State and Rutgers-New Brunswick.
Today, out-of-state applicants are treated equally alongside New Jersey applicants.
Angeloni intends to recruit out-of-state students more aggressively, perhaps to increase
their percentage from six to 15 percent while enrollment would remain capped at slightly
above 6,500. This would make TCNJ more selective among New Jersey students. Other
state-supported colleges in the Garden State would become more selective as well; their
student profiles would be stronger. However, it also fair to ask if more college-bound
students would be likely to leave the Garden State because they did not get into their
first-choice school.
Students who are sold on TCNJ and fall into the heart of the test score range for the
school should apply Early Decision. In 2010 TCNJ accepted 55 percent of the students
who did. Early Decision Plan brought in 330 students, about a quarter of the 2010-11
freshman class. In addition, TCNJ went to their waiting list to fill their 2010-11 freshman
class. Out of the nearly 10,000 applicants, more than 1,300 were placed on the waiting
list. Less than half, 555 total, accepted a place on the list. A little more than a fifth of
them were offered admission. For 2011-12, there were 600 applicants placed on the
waiting list, half accepted a spot, but only 75 were offered admission, Angeloni adds.
TCNJ’s enrollment is 15 percent African American and Hispanic, lower than RutgersNew Brunswick or Princeton, but about equal to Ramapo College of New Jersey,
Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and Rowan University, all emerging institutions
in the Garden State. TCNJ also has a lower percentage of Pell Grant eligible students
than any New Jersey college excluding Princeton. However, according to data available
through the Education Trust, a non-partisan, non-profit education policy organization
based in Washington D.C., TCNJ has a higher percentage of underrepresented
minorities among public and private colleges with similar median SAT scores (between
1,215 and 1,305 on Critical Reading and Math).
TCNJ is neither “better” nor “worse” than any excellent school. But its medium size and
undergraduate focus makes it more different than most. The college has the feel of a
smaller private liberal arts school combined with the many of the academic options of a
larger research university. However, it is neither one nor the other.
Completion
TCNJ retained 94 percent of the freshman class that entered in the fall of 2010, among
the best performances of any public institution in the country. Among public liberal arts
and schools and regional universities, no school performed better. The freshman
retention rate was also higher than those of many exceptionally selective large public
universities including Penn State, the University of Washington, the University of TexasAustin and the University of Connecticut.
If TCNJ wanted to set a new standard for graduation rates, Bucknell sets a good
example. In 2008-09, according to the school’s Common Data Set, Bucknell had a fouryear graduation rate of nearly 88 percent and a six-year graduation rate of 90 percent. In
2009-10, the four-year rate bumped up to 89 percent while the six-year rate was 91
percent.
TCNJ has been steadily approaching that level, according to their data set. In 2008-09,
the four-year graduation rate was approximately 73 percent and the six-year rate was 86
percent. In 2010-11, the four-year rate was 71 percent and the six year rate was also 86
percent. Ten percent of entering freshman transfer out. Few publicly-supported schools
have performed better.
Costs
TCNJ charges approximately $14,200 for tuition and mandatory fees in the 2011-12
school year. Room and board adds $11,200. The school’s in-state rates are the highest
for any public college in New Jersey and higher than most other state-supported flagship
schools. The “bread and butter” TCNJ student will pay a higher sticker price than the
“bread and butter” student at Rutgers, even with its differentiated tuition and fee
structure, as well other emerging New Jersey schools, as seen below.
School
Sticker Price: 2011-12 Tuition
and Fees
2011-12 Tuition and Fees less
Merit Scholarship
The College of New Jersey
$14,187
$14,187
Rutgers University-New
Brunswick
$12,755 to $13,873
$12,755 to $13,873
Ramapo College of New Jersey
$12,758
$9,758
Richard Stockton College of New
Jersey
$11.963
$4,963
Rowan University
$12,018
$10,018
TCNJ advertised on its financial aid pages that more than half of the freshmen who
entered in the Fall of 2009 had received merit-based scholarship aid. Merit scholarships
for in-state students range between $3,000 and $6,000 per year and typically require a
combined SAT score, Critical Reading and Mathematics, of 1300 or higher, with a rank in
the top ten percent of the class. The college also participates in the New Jersey
Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF). EOF students receive funding for tuition, room and
board for the first two years of their education; junior and senior awards, which are
smaller, are tied to grade-point average.
TCNJ’s policy on merit-based scholarships presents an interesting contrast with the
other New Jersey public schools. While Rutgers offers Scarlet Scholarships, a
combination of need-based and merit-based aid, to New Jersey and out-of-state
students with the same SAT scores, the university also offers the Presidential
Scholarships to its most deserving students. These awards are more like fellowships;
they cover not only tuition, but also room and board or commuting expenses. The other
institutions: Ramapo, Richard Stockton and Rowan, offer awards that reduce the sticker
price for students who have lower SAT scores as well as more generous scholarships for
high-scoring academic performers.
Interestingly, TCNJ’s merit scholarship requirements are less stringent for out-of-state
students. Awards range from $2,000 to $10,000 per year, with a minimum SAT combined
score of 1200 and a rank in the top 15 percent. It has not been unusual for statesupported schools to offer larger merit awards to out-of-state students; they pay more
tuition, while the schools also want to diversify their population and have a stronger oncampus community. However, it is unusual for a state school award scholarships to outof-state students based on a lower academic standard. This interesting decision does
help to make TCNJ competitive with out-of-state charges of other state supported
schools, even if those schools may require higher standardized test scores.
School
2011-12
Out-Of-State Tuition and Fees
Out-Of-State Tuition and Fees
Less Merit Scholarship
The College of New Jersey
$23,996
$13,996 to $21,996
University of Delaware
$25,940
$19,940 (Average of $6,000 for
student with SAT of 1300 or
higher). Smaller awards as low
as $1,000
Penn State-University Park
$27,206
$23,706 to $26,006 (must score
1,300 or higher)
Rutgers University-New
Brunswick
$25,417
$18,417 to $21,917 (must
average 650 on all sections of
the SAT)
Another way to consider costs is by Average Net Price, the estimated average total cost
of attendance (tuition, room and board, books, travel and other incidentals) less
scholarships and grants that do not need to be repaid. Below are the Average Net Prices
for households in the two highest income brackets reported in College Navigation, the
U.S. Department of Education’s college information site.
School
The College of New Jersey
Average Net Price 2010-11
Household Income $75,000 to
$110,000
Average Net Price 2010-11
Household Income $110,000 or
more
$23,722
$25,061
Rutgers University-New
Brunswick
$24,246
$25,326
Ramapo College of New Jersey
$23,480
$25,471
Rowan University
$20,378
$20,388
Richard Stockton College of New
Jersey
$25,501
$25,294
New York University
$40,148
$46,306
University of Pennsylvania
$20,582
$37,344
Villanova University
$30,672
$41,862
Lehigh University
$23,583
$40,134
Bucknell University
$30,168
$42,793
Boston University
$31,771
$41.890
George Washington University
$26,141
$35,236
New Jersey Public Schools
Private Schools
It can be seen that TCNJ will turn out to be a better value for the student who also has
the opportunity to consider several very good-to-excellent private schools. However, the
student who has to choose between TCNJ and Rutgers might wish to base their decision
on factors other than costs. An out-of-state student would have paid a sticker price of
around $36,600, according to College Navigator, before scholarships and grants were
considered. The out-of-state sticker price for TCNJ was lower than the Average Net
Prices for all of the private schools listed above, excluding George Washington
University. However, while the private schools are willing to discount, TCNJ’s sticker
price is far more predictable for future students.
TCNJ has not, as of this date, released tuition and fee charges for 2012-13. However,
the U.S. Department of Education has estimated that these will be $14,458 for in-state
students and $24,903 for out-of-state students. According to the same source, out-ofstate tuition is not expected to increase to $30,000 within the next four years, as it is
expected to do at many flagship state schools. A TCNJ student and/or their family can be
expected to pay a total of $61,500 in tuition and fees over the next four years if s/he
comes from New Jersey, about $107,500 if s/he comes from out of state.
Another way to consider costs is to look at a school’s debt-to-credentials ratio.
Developed by Education Sector, a non-partisan, non-profit education policy organization
based in Washington D.C., this ratio measures the average amount borrowed by
graduating students that was required to complete a degree. The higher a school’s
graduation rate, the lower the school’s costs or the more generous the scholarship aid,
the lower the ratio will be. Below are the debt-to-credentials ratios for the 2008-09 school
year for TCNJ, the New Jersey public schools and all of the private schools mentioned
before. For the most part, TCNJ students will graduate with a lower debt because of the
school’s tuition policies and high graduation rate.
School
The College of New Jersey
Debt-toCredentials Ratio
2009
$14,600
NJ Public Schools
Rutgers University-New
Brunswick
$17,675
Ramapo College of New Jersey
$19,757
Rowan University
$21,756
Richard Stockton College of New
Jersey
$18,531
Private Schools
New York University
$27,682
University of Pennsylvania
$11,458
Villanova University
$18,030
School
Debt-toCredentials Ratio
2009
Lehigh University
$15,231
Bucknell University
$18,639
Boston University
$18,483
George Washington University
$13,910
Students who are interested in public service may find the Bonner Scholars program
worthwhile. While the Bonner Foundation, which grants the awards, is a national
organization, it has chosen TCNJ as a regional site where staff work closely with
students who lead community service projects on campus. Students admitted to TCNJ
are invited to apply for scholarships as large as $13,000 per year and perform 300 hours
of community service.
Comforts
When it comes to housing TCNJ goes halfway between a large public school and a
small private school. The college guarantees housing to freshmen and returning
sophomores, while approximately half of the junior and senior classes may opt to live in
suite arrangements or on-campus apartments. Ninety five percent of entering freshman
elect to live on campus. Transfer students are not guaranteed housing. Juniors and
seniors go into a lottery for suites and townhomes on campus as well as small homes
across the street from a side entrance to campus. Beginning this year all on-campus
residences are set up for Wi-Fi. TCNJ charges all students the same for housing and
offers a variety of meal plans.
Inexpensive compared to most New Jersey suburbs—and the campus environs are less
than an hour from Center City Philadelphia—off-campus rentals in Ewing and nearby
Lawrence Township appear to be plentiful at around $600 per person per month,
including utilities. The best arrangement would be to live immediately around the
campus and walk to classes; there is no need for a car to get around the campus.
Eighteen percent of the undergraduate students belong to fraternities or sororities.
Greeks share off-campus housing through informal landlord-tenant arrangements;
neither the local nor the national chapters own houses.
TCNJ houses freshmen mainly in two ten-story dorms built in the early 1970s, Travers
and Wolfe. Cromwell Hall, across from Travers, houses 300 students in the Honors
Program. Roommates are matched through their choice of First Seminar, a selection of
small classes on special topics chosen by the faculty. Travers and Wolfe are traditional
ten-story residence halls with secured single-sex bathrooms on each side of a floor.
Most rooms are doubles with two students, though there are slightly larger quad rooms
for four. Each room has a vanity and a small kitchenette as well as phone service.
Bathrooms are cleaned daily by college custodial staff. The rooms are not air
conditioned. These dorms are joined together by a common lounge. Cromwell Hall is
four years older than Travers and Wolfe and is organized into suites of three double
rooms that share a kitchenette and common bathroom, which the students must clean.
Quad rooms are available, too. This dorm has its own student lounge.
This coming school year, however, Cromwell Hall will be closed for asbestos removal,
which will push freshmen, who are guaranteed housing into residence hall spaces
previously reserved for sophomores in three older halls: Allen, Brewster and Ely Halls,
three older buildings that have been joined into one that share a drawing room with
hardwood floors, grand piano, fireplace and antique furnishings.
Sophomores, who are also guaranteed housing, may choose from four other residence
hall options, of which only two, Eickhoff and New, are air conditioned. Eickhoff also
houses the main dining hall, student convenience store and several student affairs
offices. Students may choose single, double or triple occupancy rooms as well as single
sex, co-ed and mix room and shared bathroom arrangements. Centennial Hall offers a
lakefront view. Decker Hall, constructed in 1963, is the most recently renovated; the
renovations were completed in 2010.
Upperclassmen may live in townhouses, each of which accommodates ten students or
apartments, completed in 2009, which house five students. All are fully furnished and
extremely modern for a college campus and have community lounges and laundry
rooms. Twenty one College Houses, physically located off-campus, but within very close
walking distance are made available to upperclassmen through the college, but are
owned and maintained by a private Trenton State College Corporation. Some of these
homes have parking, others do not. Each has their own laundry room, though none are
Wi-Fi enabled. One house is organized for students who wish to become more
immersed in Japanese language and culture.
Unfortunately, for this year, juniors and seniors will be subject to a housing lottery due to
the closing of Cromwell Hall. It was expected that 1,400 to 1,500 upper-class students
would apply for 1,000 available beds on campus. An additional 140 beds, all in double
rooms with private bathrooms, television, maid service and access to swimming pools
and workout facilities, will be made available at a nearby hotels. Students who live in
these facilities will be charged an additional $150 per semester. They have the option of
using a shuttle service to go to campus or receiving a free parking pass.
With the completion of the proposed Campus Town project, expected to open in 2014,
there will be 400 additional beds available to students. This will give the college more
“swing space” over the long term to renovate its older residence halls. Following the reopening of Cromwell Hall, Travers will be the next to be taken off-line for renovations.
TCNJ’s hybrid arrangements for housing—a school like Bucknell will house practically
everyone on-campus while a medium or large public institution usually hosts less than
half of their entire student body—appear to work well for freshmen and sophomores. But
it takes a certain type of person to appreciate what they college is trying to accomplish
through the residence life experience. Freshmen appeared to be housed with the
thought that “we’re all in this together.” The hybrid arrangement also makes it difficult for
larger groups of students to be neighbors on the same floor in the same dorm for two or
three years. It is very difficult to ask new students to move on to a floor where social
cliques are already in place; the college wisely avoids the problem.
Being personable and respectful helps in such a living arrangement; so does being
accepting and tolerant. Loners and others who prefer to find their own way may not be
happy in living arrangement such as those at TCNJ. Returning sophomores have the
greatest number of choices. Apparently the college considers this to be the most
formative year. However, neither freshman nor sophomores who live in the residence
halls are exposed to many upper-class mentors. Being asked to rely upon each other is
fine, but it may also help to get some outside philosophy now and then.
Community
TCNJ does not border on a downtown business district with a vast selection of studentoriented shops and restaurants. Olden Avenue, a very busy commercial highway with
chain restaurants and a modern Shop Rite supermarket, is more than a mile and a half
from campus. Lined with fast-food restaurants, auto dealerships and tire stores as well
as pawn shops and check cashing establishments, Olden Avenue’s appearance is best
described as “urban outskirts.” The closest entertainment off-campus is a bowling alley.
The completion of the Campus Town project will help to improve the retail mix that is
immediately accessible to students.
The campus is served by NJ TRANSIT buses and the college operates a loop service on
Tuesday, Saturday and Sunday between the campus, downtown Princeton, train stations
and retail shopping on Route One, an extremely busy highway with several shopping
malls. However, practically anyone who has secured an off-campus job or internship will
need access to a car, or a friend who has one.
Freshmen may not have a car on campus during the school year, though they may
obtain a pass to bring their car for two weeks each semester. The no-car rule is in place
for purposes of community building—it is very difficult to engage a freshman class if they
can easily leave campus—and because of limited parking. This rule, as well as the
limited shopping close to campus, force freshmen to get to know each other, and get to
know upperclassmen, too.
The problem with the no-car rule is that freshmen who need to work are limited to oncampus jobs unless they can find a ride or use public transportation. This is fine if the
school can offer an on-campus job or, provide a scholarship that is large enough to
make up for most of the lost wages. It is unfair to ask them to borrow more money.
Freshman who must work off-campus will also need to be commuters; the parking
department actually states on their Web site that off-campus employment is not a valid
reason to give a freshman resident an on-campus parking permit. In addition, the “no
car” rule might detract students from well-to-do families from coming to TCNJ. These
students are likely to own cars unless they attended a boarding school.
Students who have access to a car will find that TCNJ is only fifteen minutes from
commuter train service to New York or Philadelphia and less than an hour’s drive to the
City of Brotherly Love. Downtown Princeton, which has an abundant choice of shops
and restaurants, is only 20 minutes away. However, while a car provides access to
employment and social opportunities, New Jersey is also known for having the highest
auto insurance rates in the country, especially for college-age drivers.
But students do not need to drive around campus. End-to-end, students can walk from
the dorms and townhouses to any campus building in ten to fifteen minutes. Metzger
Drive, also known as the campus loop, is well-designed for bicyclists and runners, with
serene spots along the route, although it needs more walkways to separate riders and
runners from cars.
Having residence halls close together also means that the campus, with a circular road
network, is also very easy to patrol. Blue light boxes are prominent on the major walking
paths. The campus is very clean and well-maintained; the perception of safety is very
positive. Reported incidents of crime went down at TCNJ from 2008 to 2009, according
to the school’s most recent Annual Safety and Security Report. Liquor law violations
are, by far, the most reported crimes. These declined 27 percent from 2007 through
2009. Burglaries and auto thefts went down from 48 to seven from 2008 to 2009. There
have been only four reported incidents of sexually related crimes over the past two
years.
The TCNJ campus is attractive and well-organized. Dormitories, apartments and
townhomes are on the periphery. Classroom buildings, the student center and the dining
hall are accessible via wide walkways though one spine of campus flanked by Green
Hall, the first college building, Kendell Hall, the music building, and the Science Complex
is not as tree-lined as the others. The campus is also situated along two lakes.
Recreation appears to happen around the lakes, but not in the water. These lakes are
more of a quiet spot than a social center. The newer parking structures were placed at
the corners, limiting traffic congestion.
Much of the new construction happened on campus through the 2000’s and continues
into this decade. The Science Complex, a Georgian style academic quad with a bubbling
water fountain at the center, opened in 2003 and houses the Chemistry, Math, Physics
and Statistic departments. Townhome residences for 750 upper-class (juniors and
seniors) students opened in 2004. A state-of-the-art library with a 105 seat auditorium
and a Starbucks café opened in 2005. The Art and Multimedia building opened in 2010
and a new Education building, also designed along the neo-Georgian style, will open
later in 2012.
The college has also repurposed and renovated older buildings. For example, the former
library was recently renovated to become the new career development center, among
other uses. Eickhoff Hall, the main dining hall, was renovated last year. It’s dining and
food kiosk layout resembles a food court in a high-end shopping mall. The dining hall
and Sodexho, the dining hall operator, were featured in Nation’s Restaurant News and
Food Management Magazine during the summer of 2011. A “Campus Town”, a publicprivate partnership between the College and a private developer, will be built by the main
campus gate, will add new student apartments with between 350 and 400 beds as well
as new shopping opportunities.
The college also has a large on-campus activities program. It counts 180 student-run
clubs as well as a programming board that hosts movies, concerts and other campuswide events. While this is a large number of intellectual and social outlets, a freshman’s
priority must be to form friendships with their peers. Not only are such friendships longer
lasting, they are also necessary for getting the next on-campus housing assignment.
However, one comment frequently made by students on college review sites such as
Campus Discovery, College Confidential, College Prowler and Students Review is that
TCNJ is too much of a “suitcase school” on the weekends, with few traditions that help to
build college identity and community.
Two campus traditions have formed around freshman move-in and graduation week.
During Freshman Welcome Week, students take part over five in a series of competitive,
but non-athletic events, designed for team and community building. During Graduation
Week, seniors move back into their freshman dorms and take part in the same events.
Freshman also design and paint a community mural in the dorms which remains up for
four years. In addition, the college has been chosen repeatedly to host the New Jersey
Special Olympics in the late spring because of the quality of the participating students as
well as the campus environment.
TCNJ offers no athletic scholarships, though the college competes in 20 varsity sports.
Since 1979, the college has amassed a total of 38 Division III crowns in six different
sports. In addition, the Lions have posted 32 runner-up awards, giving the College an
aggregate of 70 first- and second-place finishes. That figure is tops among the nation’s
400-plus Division III colleges and universities during the past 30 years. And, since
NCAA Championships were initiated for women in 1981, TCNJ has won 32 Division III
team championships. In the fall of 1999, TCNJ’s women’s athletic program was voted as
the top Division III institution for female student-athletes by Sports Illustrated for Women.
While TCNJ has fielded many successful teams, it is not a “sports school” that places
emphasis on historic rivalries as the larger state universities and older private liberal arts
schools do. Spectating is more a matter of “watching your friends compete” than urging
the school to victory. Athletics are less a part of school spirit. The major intercollegiate
sports such as football and basketball are not high-revenue sports. They are subsidized
by the student body, ticket sales and a limited number of private donors. Full disclosure:
the author has attended several women’s basketball games at TCNJ, including a
conference championship, and rarely saw more than 200 fans in the stands.
Curriculum
TCNJ students do not sit in the large lecture courses commonly offered to freshmen at
the larger public universities. Since TCNJ does not grant doctoral degrees, and its
master’s degree programs are limited to subjects in education and nursing, there are no
graduate students to run recitation sections. Smaller classes taught by who hold the
doctorate are commonplace, though less than sixty percent of the faculty teaches fulltime.
According to the school’s Common Data Set, less than half of TCNJ faculty is full time.
Eighty nine percent of the full-time faculty holds a doctoral or other terminal degree; only
23 percent of the part-time faculty is similarly educated. Fifty eight percent of the parttime faculty hold an advanced degree (example: MA/MS) that is not a terminal degree.
A research university or highly selective liberal arts college will have a larger share of
full-time faculty as well as faculty who hold a terminal advanced degree. TCNJ reports a
student-faculty ratio of 13 to 1, calculated by counting all full-time faculty and one-third of
the part-time faculty. This is lower than most publicly-supported schools.
But TCNJ students, for the most part, do not rate their faculty as highly as students at
other New Jersey institutions or other schools they might have considered These are the
ratings for TCNJ faculty as well as other schools, as shown on RateMyProfessors.com
School
The College of New Jersey
RateMyProfesors.
com
Rating
3.04
School
RateMyProfesors.
com
Rating
Rutgers University-New
Brunswick
3.22
Ramapo College of New Jersey
3.15
Rowan University
3.18
Richard Stockton College of New
Jersey
3.25
University of Delaware
3.40
New York University
3.15
Penn State-University Park
2.98
University of Pennsylvania
2.75
Villanova University
3.04
Lehigh University
3.29
Bucknell University
3.40
Boston University
3.35
George Washington University
3.34
While TCNJ asks freshman applicants to indicate an intended major, every student must
complete a liberal arts curriculum including two courses each in subjects in the
humanities, social sciences, mathematical sciences and laboratory sciences. Those who
are weak in a subject area are helped by smaller class sizes and peer tutoring programs.
The college also asks students to attain third semester competency in a foreign
language, either through placement tests or by learning a new language. There is also a
community service requirement as well as a First Year Seminar. Honors seminars are
available, too, as part of a four-year Honors Program.
TCNJ students must complete 32 courses of four credits each to earn a degree. Fourcredit courses allow for more in-class learning and student-faculty interaction. But
anyone considering TCNJ should be prepared to stick around. The four-course load
leaves fewer credits to transfer. The first-year seminar is not likely to transfer at all.
A nice feature of the core and most major programs is that there is flexibility to meet the
liberal arts requirements through courses that can support the major, or through
declaring a minor. A TCNJ student can, for example, major in political science and minor
in journalism or interactive multimedia. Another nice feature is that most students may
switch majors, for example from engineering to a science or liberal arts program or from
liberal arts to a business program or vice versa without losing time or credits towards
graduation. Students who start out, for example, in engineering at a larger school often
change to another major. This forces them to remain in school beyond four years.
While TCNJ does not have a college-wide internship or practicum requirement, several
academic departments including accounting, communication studies, education, nursing
and political science, among others, arrange internships through their faculty. Other
departments, economics and philosophy, for example, require that a student write a
scholarly paper in a senior capstone course. Students may also work with faculty on
research during the school year or through an eight-week Mentored Undergraduate
Summer Experience (MUSE). In addition, while TCNJ has an Honors Program, it also
has departmental honors courses. A student need not be admitted to the honors
program to write a scholarly paper or do research with a professor.
Another option for the brightest pre-med students is a seven year bachelor’s degreemedical degree program in partnership with the University of Medicine and Dentistry of
New Jersey. Twenty five students are selected for this program each year; their
bachelor’s degrees are conferred upon completion of the first year of medical school.
Students selected to this program must maintain a 3.2 GPA or better to be assured
admission to the medical school, though they must take the MCAT as well.
Lisa Angeloni adds that as the quality of the student body continues to improve there
may be less of a need for a separate Honors Program in the future, because all of the
admitted students earned high honors in their previous education. There is less of a
need to house honors students separately during the freshman year—the college has no
other honors housing on campus—while honors students have never received priority
registration for classes, as they do at some other schools.
Connections
With the graduation of the Class of 2011, TCNJ has an estimated 70,000 alumni. About
70 percent live in New Jersey, while another 10 percent live in the Philadelphia area.
While TCNJ has formed a Parents and Family Association, they do not have the large
global network found in a flagship state school or a private school with a long history of
graduating excellent students. The college does not have a network of alumni clubs, nor
does it have an established online community as larger state schools or older private
schools do.
Within any college community the alumni who have the most to give financially would be
those who graduated prior to 1970, usually men or women in high wage positions who
have adult children and they are at the peak of their earning power. However, the
institutional memories of TCNJ prior to the early 1970’s are primarily of a commuter
school with mostly teacher candidates. These alumni may be earning a good living, but
they could hardly be considered a wealthy base.
However, given an average class size of 22 persons, TCNJ students have ample
opportunities to get to know their professors; the faculty direct internship programs or
practicums in several majors, and they advise undergraduates on scholarly projects that
are typically undertaken by graduate students at larger schools. It is safe to assume that,
at a school that mixes small classes with a mix of practical and liberal arts courses,
student-faculty relations are the highest priority. The professors can become the most
important friends that you have in your early post-graduate life.
Career services have been moved to a more visible location on campus; they were
previously located at the periphery near the campus police station. Students are in good
position to run from home to classes to interviews; this was not the case at the old
location. The major problem is volume. Employers typically target the larger schools
because those schools give their recruiters the opportunity to meet the most people in
one place. The quality of education at a large school may not always be better in the
pre-professional fields, but if the quantity of students with excellent grades is there, the
quality is often considered to be good enough.
While TCNJ has more than enough candidates, for example, for students to participate
in a business, education or health sciences job fair, the engineering school has less than
100 seniors in all of the possible majors. This is not enough to fill an on-campus
recruitment schedule for most large employers, unless they are coming from close by.
The Philadelphia and the Princeton areas, for example are ripe with pharmaceutical and
medical device companies who hire bio-medical engineers.
TCNJ is not a member of a career services consortium that shares job postings,
although their Lions Link online job board is operated by the National Association of
Colleges and Employers (NACE), the professional association that career counselors
and recruiters from the leading entry level employers belong. Through this service
employers may post to several schools, including Drexel, Rutgers, Penn State, The
University of Delaware and The University of Pennsylvania, from a single registration.
This electronic arrangement, combined with TCNJ’s positive visibility in national media,
is likely to help attract more employers and postings to TCNJ.
Conclusion
TCNJ is an excellent school for students, especially those from New Jersey, who know
what they want from their academics. While the liberal arts core curriculum has flexibility,
students are asked to commit to a major earlier than they would at other schools. Those
who know what they want will find supportive professors and a manageable curriculum
to work with. They might also find a scholarship to help them pay their way, or at least
cover the difference between the costs of going there or going to Rutgers.
If TCNJ has a serious weakness, it is that the school has a very short history as TCNJ.
The school has only fifteen years of graduates who have been served under the TCNJ
umbrella. It is quite likely that none have reached their maximum earnings, and that
many are raising young families. Competing schools public and private, have much
longer histories and institutional memories to work with as well as larger alumni
networks. In addition, Rutgers-New Brunswick and the larger Philadelphia area colleges
such as Drexel, Penn and Temple have large on-campus recruitment programs, and
those schools are less than an hour away.
At present, the best connections TCNJ students can make are through the faculty. They
get to know them better than their peers get to know their professors at larger or more
high-profile schools. Those who want to delve deep into any subject the school offers
and get to know their professors on a first-name basis will be very happy. They will work
harder in the classroom in the hope that their academic preparation, including research
with professors, will lead them to the job or graduate program they want.
TCNJ is not “better” than Rutgers or other fine colleges and universities, it’s different.
Misfits would feel painfully lost here or at any other school. However, New Jersey is very
fortunate to have one of the leading national research universities in the country as well
as its budget Bucknell.
REPORT CARD DETAIL: THE COLLEGE OF NEW JERSEY
Costs: B+ 16 points
Pluses
Out-of-state charges are quite competitive considering the quality of the education
Among NJ schools, TCNJ works hard to provide institutional merit-based and need-based scholarship aid
Minuses
The college’s endowment is only $22 million
State government subsidy is below 30 percent of the college’s operating budget and less in dollars than it
was in 1994.
In state charges are high relative to other state-supported schools
Comforts: B+ 16 points
Pluses
Vast majority of freshman live on campus
Residence Life puts all freshman together for bonding and life experience program
Numerous sophomore, junior and senior year residential options
Surrounding area in Ewing and Lawrence Township has reasonable rents for New Jersey
Returning sophomores are guaranteed housing as well as entering freshman
Modern main dining hall—appearance of high-end food court
All on-campus residences are Wi-Fi enabled
Planned Campus Town will add between 350 and 400 beds in new student apartments—this may drive the
Comforts rating to an ‘A’ at a later date
Minuses
Juniors and seniors must go through a housing lottery. Only half can be housed on-campus
Transfer students are not guaranteed on-campus housing
Not all dorms are air conditioned
Community: B+ 16 points
Pluses
Trains to New York and Philadelphia as well as air travel are easily accessible by car
College runs a loop service to Princeton and Route One shopping in Mercer County
Campus is served by public bus (NJ TRANSIT)
Over 180 extracurricular activities
Winning athletic program
Campus is very attractive and designed to be easy to keep safe and secure
Community service leadership component through the Bonner Scholars program
Annual host for state Special Olympics
Minuses
Little to nothing to do in Ewing and surrounding area
Freshman “no-car” rule can be burden for some
Light attendance at athletic events
College is perceived to be a “suitcase school” on weekends
Little in way of traditions beyond Welcome Week, Homecoming and Convocation
Curriculum: A 20 points
Pluses
Everyone takes a Liberal Arts core, even science and engineering students
Easier to switch between majors and departments than at larger schools
Options for internships and practicums through the faculty
Easy to design programs with majors and minors
All courses taught by professors, not graduate students
Opportunities for research during school year and summer.
Minuses
Students must declare an intended major on the application—not an attractive option for the undecided
Students who transfer would leave with fewer credits due to four-credit course format
Connections: B+ 16 points
Pluses
College is well situated in a New Jersey county with a diverse economic base
More than 70,000 living alumni
Philadelphia is also major social center and labor market
One of the best K-12 teacher and nursing networks in New Jersey
Faculty have proven willing to form stronger working relationships with students than they would at larger
schools—no grad students in virtually all majors
College participates in NACELink job board with Rutgers and Philadelphia area schools.
Minuses
Small alumni base for a school with a strong academic reputation
Short institutional memory under current name and branding
Enrollment in engineering is too small to attract on-campus recruitment
TOTAL SCORE: 84
This score could rise to 88 once Campus Town apartments are open to upper-class students