By Michael Hill
Correspondent
Asbury Park’s Rubens Dextra is a junior sociology major at Rutgers-Camden.
“My family actually lives in low-income housing as we speak, so I would definitely qualify. That would be a great bonus for me,” he said.
Unfortunately, Dextra will miss what Rutgers Camden calls “Bridging the Gap.” The school is offering its 2016 New Jersey freshmen entering from high school free tuition and campus fees for those from families earning $60,000 or less. Half-price tuition and campus fees would be available to those from families earning $60,001 to $100,000.
The school says it would pick up what financial aid and scholarships don’t cover. It could mean a savings of $14,000 a year. In Bridging the Gap students must complete 30 credit hours a year, stay in good academic standing and graduate in four years.
When asked who he wants to take advantage of this, Craig Westman said, “Low-income, first generation students because that’s who we are at Rutgers Camden.”
Associate Chancellor for Enrollment Management Westman says more than half the students at Rutgers Camden come from families whose parents never went to, or never finished college or earned less than a bachelor’s degree. He says they struggle to contribute to a child’s college education and that Bridging the Gap disregards a family’s assets.
“You may have a family that owns a farm, and that farm may be worth $400,000, but they live off of $20,000. So, this program looks at the adjusted gross income; what does a families truly have to live off of,” he said.
If Bridging the Gap was already in place for the 400 current freshmen, 269, or 65 percent, would qualify for free of half-price tuition.
Westman said it allows students to leave college with zero debt. Debt from college loans in America tops a trillion dollars and the school considers the debt crippling for economic progress.
He says nearly 60 percent of students here work 20 to 40 hours a week. Conventional wisdom may have said that builds character, but Westman says new research shows it’s distracting.
“There’s a lot of studies out there that say if students are working more hours academic performance suffers, but if they’re working less hours then performance improves,” he said.
Dextra says even though he can’t take advantage of Bridging the Gap, he still supports it.
“It’s just more accessible for more kids and for more people to be able to go to college, and that’s always a positive thing. Everybody always says education is key and I think that’s something that we’ve been taught and constantly put into our minds since we were little kids,” Dextra said.
Rutgers Camden says it’s the first in the state to offer free or half-price tuition.