OT: Rider University Circling the drain
- Thread starter kupuna133
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Do you mean its Mount Laurel obligation to provide "affordable housing?" My understanding is that Lawrence Township, where Rider is located, has complied with the first three stages and is currently seeking a declaratory judgment from a court that it has complied with the final stage. But I don't know whether the availability of additional land would result in a greater Mount Laurel obligation.
Just thought Lawrenceville is closer, but I guess it's not. However, I do know they have need for additional fields/athletic infrastructure. Maybe if the town takes over Rider Campus, LS can cover some of the lost PILOT in exchange for preferential access? Something like that.
My impression is that Rider's athletic fields are on the side of Rider closest to Lawrenceville School. So maybe it's not impossible that the school would take some of the campus, but not the whole thing. One thing's for sure: unless something drastic happens, Rider will soon be no more. When you lay off a quarter of your faculty/staff and stop making contributions to TIAA-CREF for the rest, you're close to death.
Agreed, why would any faculty stay and why would new students enroll? I know life isn't as simple as that, but the headwinds for Rider are only going to increase. Probably a massive sugar daddy is the only hope for righting the ship.
I could see the playing fields going to Lawrenceville school and the housing going to TCNJ. That would fit the needs of both.
Edit to my original post: a little research shows that the amount of developable land is considered in deciding a town's Mount Laurel obligation to allow "affordable housing." So the township's obligation would increase if it took over Rider's land.
Well, that also depends. If the township buys the land using open space/preservation money (whether local, county, or state) the land would legally be considered undevelopable. I'm also pretty sure even if they buy/take possession of the land without open space money and then pass a conservation easement, it would have the same affect.
Regardless, Round 4 is pretty much baked, so any changes to land status would impact Round 5 in 10-15 years.
Remember that a town is restricted in its ability to impose a conservation easement. Rather, the town would have to buy the property from its owner subject to such an easement in the deed. (It could require the grant of such an easement from a developer building on the land, but that doesn't seem relevant here.) Rider might be reluctant to want to grant such an easement in the deed of sale because that would decrease the market value of the land. It's unlikely that the town would pay as much for the land subject to an easement as for unrestricted land, and Rider might prefer to sell to a private buyer for full market value.
My understanding also is that, under legislation signed by Governor Murphy last year, towns are supposed to finalize their Phase V plans by the end of 2026, although the towns have until 2035 to comply. (I'm not sure I'm right about that; the phases confuse me.)
In any case, my uninformed guess is that the town would prefer for the land to remain used as a college so that it can collect payments-in-lieu-of-taxes and not have to worry about a possible additional Mount Laurel obligation down the line.
Rider just lost to Coppin State at home.
Terminate the BB coach who has been there forever and save $.
Terminate the BB coach who has been there forever and save $.
Rider will go bankrupt. The lenders will take control and seek to sell Rider’s most valuable asset, its real estate.
Plenty of demand for the land will exist from developers of medical offices and home builders.
Lawrence Township must rezone the land to allow these uses. Otherwise, the building will rot.
See Rowan’s Pemberton campus, which laid abandoned for years, ruined by vandals, and eventually sold to Burlington County for $1 million who don’t know what they are going to do with it.
Rider has an $80 million endowment and Rutgers should try to acquire those funds as part to Rider’s bankruptcy process.
Plenty of demand for the land will exist from developers of medical offices and home builders.
Lawrence Township must rezone the land to allow these uses. Otherwise, the building will rot.
See Rowan’s Pemberton campus, which laid abandoned for years, ruined by vandals, and eventually sold to Burlington County for $1 million who don’t know what they are going to do with it.
Rider has an $80 million endowment and Rutgers should try to acquire those funds as part to Rider’s bankruptcy process.
Rider is unlikely to go bankrupt. After all, it does, as you say, have an $80 million endowment. It is more likely to merge with another college (like Mills College in California did) or sell its assets to pay its debts and wind itself down in an orderly way (like Trinity Christian and Fontbonne University, both of which closed in 2025, did.)
The township might prefer to keep the zoning the way it is so long as there is a possibility that another educational institution would buy the land.
My understanding is that the endowments at Rider are mostly restricted to scholarships. If Rider closes, the courts will have to figure out what use of the money comes closest to accomplishing the original intent of the grantors of the endowments. (This is called the "cy pres" doctrine.)
It's possible that the courts would decide that Rutgers should get it. But I wouldn't hold my breath. As you may know, the University of the Arts in Philadelphia closed last year. There is a dispute about where its endowment will go. It's most likely that the money will be split among the institutions to which the students at the school transferred. (Temple wanted the whole of the endowment because it is establishing an arts program where the University of the Arts was, but the main donor to the University of the Arts objected vociferously. ) I doubt that many Rider students will transfer to Rutgers because Rutgers is academically a much more challenging institution. https://theridernews.com/endowment/
If Rider goes bankrupt wouldn't the unrestricted portion of the endowment (if there is any) go to the debt holders?
Yes Rutgers applications were at all time high last year and plenty of kids and parents were disappointed that they didn’t get in.
Yes, but most schools in Rider's position don't go bankrupt -- instead they cease operation and sell assets like land and buildings to satisfy debt. Beside, as you indicate, there may not be much in the way of unrestricted assets in the endowment.
Thank you for the thoughtful post.
Many possible outcomes exist here.
Rider could drop dead like Upsala in mid 1990s. Rider could be rescued and digested by a public university, as happened with Bloomfield and Montclair State then New Jersey City University and Kean, though the latter merger hasn’t been completed.
I doubt Rutgers or Princeton or anybody really wants to merge with a failing private college with declining enrollment and take on the debt.
Rider owes $15.7 million in debt payments between March and June 2026. The Rider president admitted on November 10, 2015, the university is running out of cash and has “no liquidity,” plus has taken every $ out of the endowment that wasn’t restricted by donors.
Where does Rider come up withthe $15.7 million over the next few months to make the debt payments and avoid default and bankruptcy?
Will be interesting to see how state political leaders handle this one. Perhaps Rider students could transfer to Rutgers Camden, where tuition would likely be cheaper as most Rider students are NJ residents and one of Tate’s critical objectives is to reverse the enrollment declines at Rutgers Camden.
They laid off employees in September. US News likes it, though -- it's #2 on the list of "best value" schools -- so maybe it will figure out a way to hang on.
Is that just delaying the inevitable by being a bandaid on a gunshot wound or is Rider going to survive?
The NJ colleges not named Princeton, Rutgers, TCNJ, Monmouth, Rowan, Stevens, and NJIT should all be on alert in the future. I think the enrollment cliff that is about a decade out is really going to sink a lot of the 2nd and 3rd tier NJ schools especially the privates. IMO the cost doesnt make sense to drop that much on tuition on a mediocre private like Rider.
They can survive, alumni have been stepping up with donations from what I've heard. They just need to be smart with how they move forward, assuming they get the much needed stamp of approval from Middle States.
That cliff is going to affect everyone, it can put smaller schools like Stevens & NJIT into a fiscal bind if fewer kids go into STEM or opt to do it at larger schools that have more resources. So they all need to be preparing strategic plans that address these realities and the potential risks to their models.
Yup, there's a definite backlash against the cost and also in general on going to school. For the first time in a long, long time I'm hearing people talking about getting into trades. Particularly since there's a very real need for people in those trades, plumbing, HVAC, etc.
For now. Give it a decade and the trades will be as saturated as college degrees are and those roles will crumble in value as well. It's all supply and demand. Everything is cyclical and the pendulum always swings back in the opposite direction. No different than all the hype about medical coding in the late 2010s. Now coding is utterly useless as AI will absorb those roles.
Bring on the foreign students … at least that’s what they’re probably telling themselves
Hard to see them not having consistent financial troubles without some big donors or new revenue streams, and changes to majors focusing more on business, tech, engineering, PT, PA, dental assistant, etc.
I would think Monmouth may be worried too, as they've had similar, significant enrollment declines to Rider. I'd add Montclair to your safe list after the state had them take Bloomfield, their enrollment appears to be growing, and their Fitch rating improved. I also think Ramapo is likely fine. Many schools have recently had some financial issues or concerns, and cut and froze jobs and expenses, so they all need to manage expenses better and find new revenue sources.
Yeah Montclair is fine, Monmouth should be a bit worried. Stockton I feel like is a school that could be fine but idk. Only real selling point is being close to the shore. Academically they're trash. A step up from Atlantic Cape CC but well below Rowan academically.
As the saying goes:
Demographics = Destiny
K-12s (public and private) have seen the impact of just less children in society. This child gap will start to impact higher ed within 5-7 years.
Cost of living has deincentivized having children in society. When it literally puts couples at risk of poverty to have children, they aren't gonna do it. Only way to reverse it is to make life affordable across the board again.
My understanding is that Drew has been running annual deficits of over $10 million since 2020. In 2024, the last year for which there are numbers, the deficit was about $15 million. It is trying to sell some of its land for development, but its effort to sell parts of Drew Forest were vetoed by the municipality.
The child gap is hitting already.
The 2.1 kids per family pace held for decades in the US and was taken for granted by college bosses. In 2007, the financial crisis hit and the US birth rate collapsed. Fast forward 18 years and the pool of college bound Americans is in free fall. The 24% decline in US birth rate means, all else equal, college enrollment will decline by about 24%.
Only two universities in New Jersey are safe from the demographic headwind, Princeton and Rutgers New Brunswick.
There are going to be winners and losers due to these new demos. Just using the Princeton-area privates as a case study - the bigger names are doing fine, but the smaller/niche schools are really struggling with enrollment. Just not enough kids to go around.
too many schools, not enough votech programs etc etc
Killing off some of these schools only makes Rutgers better
There's always going to be a place for small colleges for students who aren't Princeton-quality but need a smaller school to flourish or who are most comfortable attending a school affiliated with their religion. (Faith-based colleges -- particularly those affiliated with Protestantism -- have held their own over the last twenty years even while enrollment at secular colleges and universities has dropped significantly.) But that place is going to be a lot smaller than it was.
