NJ Governor wants to merge TESC into Rutgers

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Alissa, I AUTHORED that thread lol. I think my point was that the cost was about the same.

 

I love that thread and share it every chance I get. It does show how cheap all the big three are, and no matter which one someone chose, they could get a degree for less than $6000, which is something Rutgers could not do. I hope the merger does not go through.

 

But as was also pointed out:

So historically, you could score in the 33rd percentile, and get 39 credits.
Now, you need to score in the 80th percentile to get 30 credits.

So it's become significantly tougher.

 

I have been using Grockit.com to practice, which has lead to some interesting results. (Stupid circle geometry...) Coupling that with having ETS tell me which ones I missed. Not sure on the Psyc GRE yet.

FWIW, I hear that BigBook is easier than the GRE itself.

 

I just got this video emailed to me from Thomas Edison regarding the possible merger.

http://www.njn.net/television/webcast/njnnews/wednesday.html

 

I did too. Interesting.

 

My timing sucks. I just paid and enrolled in TESC earlier in March before all of this came out. I'm officially starting my first class May 1st (I need some actually classes for GPA purposes as I plan on going to grad school). This is scary as I plan on graduating in 2011. Not sure how this will affect me, and just hoping TESC or someone will honor my tuition enrollment contract. While I would love the Rutgers name too, I don't think they are going to let me finish my BA for the same price.

 

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I could be mistaken, maybe one of the experts will comment, but I'm pretty sure that students who enroll must be allowed to finish out the program. Is it a law? I don't know, but something in my memory is telling me that there is. I also don't think they can change your credit distribution requirements. I think you are covered- but I'd suggest shooting them an email and see what they say.

 

New TESC e-mail

Hi, I just received an e-mail to contact my local representative about the possible merger that neither Rutgers or TESC wants. This leads me to believe it is a done deal but there would be a time limit on the enrolled to get their work completed. Hille

 

If memory serves, you're allowed to finish out the year. So if they merged 1/1/11, people could graduate that year or finish their last year(s) somewhere else. As someone else mentioned, RU has a lot of secondary accreditations that are at risk if they allow TESC students to complete an RU degree with more exams than existing RU students.

As time goes on, I wonder if they (Rutgers) are considering something along the lines of the Harvard Extension School, where TESC would be a separate school and never the twain shall meet. The easiest option for RU is to close TESC, which scares me.

@Hille, I've been contacting every rep in this area and emphasizing how many students would be displaced by it.

PS: Their is a reason that RU students call it the "RU Screw" -- their infrastructure is not great. They frequently have hundreds of seniors who need a class to graduate, but can't get in to it, which makes lots of people 5yr students (more money for them, so who cares right???).

 

I think it's too bad that the budget cuts have adversely had an impact of the future of Thomas Edison State College. The college has served so many people and allowed them to earn a degree that is very flexible.

I honestly feel that the Governor of New Jersey is looking strictly at the budget and didn't take into account how vast of a difference Thomas Edison State College is from that of Rutgers University. There's just no possible way to make a fair comparison and this is what leaves so many potential problems with this merger.

I understand that the State of New Jersey needs to do something to cap spending and all. But, to just say that the state will no longer fund Thomas Edison State College isn't in my opinion the right way to go about it. If there needs to be some spending cuts and so forth, it would seem that there would be some transition and some time to get the issues all worked out without cutting Thomas Edison State College's complete funding.

Thomas Edison State College has served so many military families and others to be able to have a means to earn their degree. As much as we do have other choices i.e. Charter Oak State College and Excelsior College, it just doesn't seem right to just stop all funding and make it so that so many former as well as current student to be alarmed on what its future holds.

I sincerely hope that something can be worked out. I understand that some on here like the Rutgers' name and all. But, there is so much more at stake and this is a fine institution that hopefully will have a positive future and not be closed.

And, one more thing. I don't care for the idea of merging this with one of the other two colleges. That wouldn't be a good idea in my opinion. I think that Thomas Edison State College has a good reputation, and it needs to function with its own autonomy and somehow the funding and other things can be all worked out.

 

As some of the other posters have pointed out, why does TESC still need money from the state to operate? (Outside of the Museum and Library, which should have state funding.)

Excelsior's pricing scale is not that incredibly different, yet they continue to have budget surpluses year to year (2 million last year, as high as 7 million or more in the past,) while efficiently handling about twice as many students.

 

Agree, but what is irking me is that the Governor just says "okay, let's merge." Even a "you get no money this year" would have been better than this. "Raise your rates or GTFO" would have been acceptable to me as well. How many millions would be wasted on merging as well?

 

I did email them but haven't received a response yet.

 

He probably has no actual knowledge about the schools operations, and considers them to be "the same thing".

 

In case anyone was interested on the transfer credits, I did get a response to my email:

"The credits that Thomas Edison has accepted should remain. We are accredited by the same regional accrediting body as is Rutgers University, so transfer credit is unlikely to be affected by any merger."

 

So, when does TESC officially go out of existence?

 

As I understand it, there is no guarantee that it is even going to happen because it must first be debated/decided by the NJ legislature. And I am not sure when/if they will take up that issue. If they were to agree to it, it would not go into effect until sometime in 2011 at the earliest.

At this point I have no idea what the likelihood of a merger is, and I am not sure TESC does either, though I know that neither they nor Rutgers want it.

Scott

 

I thought there was a post upthread which said that the governor said it was a done deal.

 

I don't believe so. He included it as part of his 2011 budget proposal, but that has to be approved by the general legislature before being enacted.

Scott