OT: Anyone else think Rutgers is absurdly expensive?

czxqa · Mar 21, 2026

Knight Shift said:
Are you joking? To replace plumbers, electricians, carpenters, etc? Not a chance

Elon believes he'll have robots capable of the most advanced surgeries within three years. Even if it takes ten, that's surgery. There are already bricklayer robots that can build twice as fast as humans. Concrete foundations can be 3D printed today, a third of the cars driving the streets of San Fran don't have a person behind the wheel. This is not new,the UAW has been fighting robotics for 40 years. AI is the game changer because the hardware side of robotics has been solved for years, but until now we've had to design, build and program robots for each specific task we need them to accomplish. Now we can build generic humanoids and with AI train them for any job that needs doing.
I saw one report that said 30% of the work hours currently being spent on manual labor will be completed by robotics within ten years.

hoquat63 · Mar 21, 2026

This topic finally got me to reregister on the new board.
Topic is one of few I actually can claim any expertise since about 26 years of my 30+ years at RU was spent working in the finance area of the administration. I too started as a student at RU when tuition was $200, and was same all four years (class of 70).
One huge factor in tuition increase over the years I worked there was the continuing decline in funding from the state of NJ to support the University. Been retired for 20+ years now so I can’t quote any recent stats, but there were quite a few years when it was part of my job to calculate possible tuition rate increases to partially offset reductions in state funding, to be part of the budget cuts eliminating jobs (including so called bloated admin jobs - like custodians, secretaries, librarians, etc.) , replacing full time tenured faculty positions with much cheaper part time and cutting nonsalary expenses. Even tougher when the budget reduction comes 3 months after the year started (state transferred budget allocation 25% each quarter - really tough when you get told in November, guess what you are not getting all of the money we told you you were getting
Everything costs more - I remember (worked in student payroll early on) the $2.00/ hour wage. When I was student worker in the 60’s, I made even less than that. Don’t know current pay scales but I am sure nobody is working for $2 now. Heck, when I was lucky to land a full time job at the University in 1970 I was thrilled to be getting about $7,500 a year!

The RUT · Mar 21, 2026

RUTGERS95 said:
good luck with your business, few things as rewarding and challenging

Thanks man, it's been a fun ride so far. Lots of late nights, but I enjoy what I do and know I will look back fondly at this time in my life.

The RUT · Mar 21, 2026

Knight Shift said:
Didn't you spend some time as a Rutgers student ? This is your USC game pal.

No, I went to a small D3 school for lacrosse. Always said I majored in lacrosse, women, and beer

Knight Shift · Mar 21, 2026

czxqa said:
Elon believes he'll have robots capable of the most advanced surgeries within three years. Even if it takes ten, that's surgery. There are already bricklayer robots that can build twice as fast as humans. Concrete foundations can be 3D printed today, a third of the cars driving the streets of San Fran don't have a person behind the wheel. This is not new,the UAW has been fighting robotics for 40 years. AI is the game changer because the hardware side of robotics has been solved for years, but until now we've had to design, build and program robots for each specific task we need them to accomplish. Now we can build generic humanoids and with AI train them for any job that needs doing.
I saw one report that said 30% of the work hours currently being spent on manual labor will be completed by robotics within ten years.

Please point us to an article or video of these bricklayer robots.

AI will diminish and or eliminate a lot of lower roles in corporations and offices. I'm seeing multiple people on X saying that are using Claude for developing a retirement investing strategy that is better than a financial advisor.

Read a great NYT article from last Sunday on the future of coding. AI agents can write basic code faster and better than junior programmers. Now mid level and senior coders spend their days interacting with AI agents to direct them on what to write code for. My kid who is a software engineer for a major software company spends the day doing this instead of grinding out code.

We have been using AI tools to supplant some work done by paralegals.

Funny side light of working with AI agents - they respond better and quicker if you are a bit rude to them and scold them when they don't give you what you want.

If there is a point in any of thisz, those that adapt to the changing nature of work and leverage AI will succeed.

Knight Shift · Mar 21, 2026

What Izzo says here applies to the workplace

mdk02 · Mar 21, 2026

hoquat63 said:
This topic finally got me to reregister on the new board.
Topic is one of few I actually can claim any expertise since about 26 years of my 30+ years at RU was spent working in the finance area of the administration. I too started as a student at RU when tuition was $200, and was same all four years (class of 70).
One huge factor in tuition increase over the years I worked there was the continuing decline in funding from the state of NJ to support the University. Been retired for 20+ years now so I can’t quote any recent stats, but there were quite a few years when it was part of my job to calculate possible tuition rate increases to partially offset reductions in state funding, to be part of the budget cuts eliminating jobs (including so called bloated admin jobs - like custodians, secretaries, librarians, etc.) , replacing full time tenured faculty positions with much cheaper part time and cutting nonsalary expenses. Even tougher when the budget reduction comes 3 months after the year started (state transferred budget allocation 25% each quarter - really tough when you get told in November, guess what you are not getting all of the money we told you you were getting
Everything costs more - I remember (worked in studentoatrf payroll early on) the $2.00/ hour wage. When I wasl student worker in the 60’s, I made even less than that. Don’t know current pay scales but I am sure nobody is working for $2 now. Heck, when I was lucky to land time job at the University in 1970 I was thrilled to be getting about $7,500 a year.

The jobs you cite as bloated academic jobs are not. They are usually higher up on the food chain and often have "associate" or "assistant" in the job title

Jtung230 · Mar 21, 2026

RUBlackout said:
Was just having this convo with my neighbor this morning…it’s quite insane the costs of Universities. Not only that but these schools are making it even harder to get into also. His daughter got rejected from VTech with 1500 SATs

Your neighbor is not telling you something. Know a couple of kids (including my son) that got in with less than 1500.

eddynyse · Mar 21, 2026

So, it sounds like many of you are saying we’re looking at a massive wipeout of white-collar jobs. If that actually happens, the 'pain' isn't just going to be for the people getting laid off, it’s going to hit everyone. We’re talking about a hit to the US economy so big it’d basically be 1929 all over again. If that much middle-class spending power disappears, the whole system goes in the toilet. So being a plumber or electrician is unlikely to save most people either. People sree likely going to use Gemini or Chatgpt to help with their plumbing or electrical issues because they can't afford one.

If AI is as impactful as some people are saying is going to be, the entire US economy and middle class is going to have to be reimagine.

PSU_Nut · Mar 22, 2026

24Babybull said:
This:
The federal government officially took over the origination of new student loans on
July 1, 2010, under the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. This legislation mandated that all federal student loans be made directly through the Department of Education rather than private banks.

Yes, research indicates that college tuition has increased following expansions in federal student loans, a trend often described by the "
Bennett Hypothesis." Studies suggest that for every dollar of increased federal aid, colleges and universities may raise tuition by as much as 60 cents, capturing a significant portion of the available loans.

I always felt they calculate finacial aid backwards. The cost of the college should not depend on the cost of the school, You should qualify for a fixed amount which should be capped. As is now if based on income my expected family contribution is $5k if I got to State U for $30k I get $25k while if I went to Private U for $50k I get $45k in aid. I feel it would be better if they just set a flat rate, for example qualify for $25k in aid and you go State U you pay $5k and Private U you pay $25k. This would incentize colleges to actually keep college costs down.

newell138 · Mar 22, 2026

eddynyse said:
So, it sounds like many of you are saying we’re looking at a massive wipeout of white-collar jobs. If that actually happens, the 'pain' isn't just going to be for the people getting laid off, it’s going to hit everyone. We’re talking about a hit to the US economy so big it’d basically be 1929 all over again. If that much middle-class spending power disappears, the whole system goes in the toilet. So being a plumber or electrician is unlikely to save most people either. People sree likely going to use Gemini or Chatgpt to help with their plumbing or electrical issues because they can't afford one.

If AI is as impactful as some people are saying is going to be, the entire US economy and middle class is going to have to be reimagine.

They said the same thing about the automobile

hoquat63 · Mar 22, 2026

mdk02 said:
The jobs you cite as bloated academic jobs are not. They are usually higher up on the food chain and often have "associate" or "assistant" in the job title

Absolutely correct - that is usually got cut, never saw a budget cut that eliminated a VP or many people you call associate or assistant. Admin bloat is a convenient scapegoat but when push comes to shove what I mentioned is what goes. Have been on both sides of the cuts - central admin where all we did was tell the various VP how much they had to give us and then sit back and see what they wanted to cut, and on a campus level when our provost had to decide how much our deans and management had to cut. I did see at least two “assistant” types cut - one a woman with cancer (they found her another job in another department so she didn’t lose medical bent and another guys who they had to hire back as a part timers at lower pay and no benefits because he was really needed. Our campus facilities director had a phrase for dealing with cuts - the campus needed to be “acceptably seedy”
Newark also laid off its entire custodial staff and replaced them with an outside contractor. When a “assistant on the personnel office got cut, the faculty who were all for cutting administrative bloat were upset because the woman who they let go was the wife of a faculty member. Biggest way to save though was not replacing full time faculty - you could hire 8 part time faculty to teach 8 courses at a fraction of the cost to hire a tenure track faculty member who would be expected to yeah 4 or 5 courses

LETSGORU91 · Mar 22, 2026

bigmatt718 said:
Trades in the 2020s will be the "learn to code" in the 2010s. People will rush to do them, get weeded out because they physically cant hack the labor and the ones who stick around will see their jobs outsourced in a decade. I've seen this movie before.

The jury is out on what you say there. Today's kids dont strike me as ones to rush into hands on, physical, trade work. If they were smart, they would. But they are too busy staring at their phones instead of developing skills leading them towards a future in trade work.

CollegeSenior · Mar 22, 2026

Dowling's Revenge said:
I have a soon to be 8th grader. Will probably have low six figures in the 529 by the time college comes around. I figured he'd be in good shape for a state school, but oh my lord Rutgers is almost $40k /yr for in state when room and board is included! I suppose I'm just naive but this seems crazy expensive for public in state.

50 years ago I graduated from a NJ Parochial and went to RU. The tuition at my HS and RU have been almost equal for all of that time, with my HS always just a little more. Today my HS charges 16,225 vs RU 14,933 (plus fees). Plenty of Private and Parochial HS charge more. Some a lot more.

Education has gotten expensive for many reasons but RU isn’t out of line with high schools and national public universities.

RUskoolie · Mar 22, 2026

bigmatt718 said:
And that is why I dont think trades are gonna work for Zoomers. Like I said, trades are physical labor and the last thing in the world they want to do is anything physical. Those kids would be weeded out fast.

Did you not read my post where I just said 18-26 year olds built my 10,000 sqft building? Hell one of them was 16 apparently. They have the legs and back to do that at that age. Was some Latinos but also some whites.

RUskoolie · Mar 22, 2026

newell138 said:
100% agree. Where I work these engineers coming out of all these BIG schools, likely mired in debt are only making about $50k to start. Granted they are getting a pension and 5 weeks vacation but it’s gonna take awhile to pay that loan off. Like yourself I know a few guys in the trades who own their own businesses and are killing it in their low 30s

I shifted into wanting to own a construction company when I was getting window quotes and the one owner of his window company told me he sold 10M of windows in a year. I knew then there was an opportunity. You combine that with most of those guys are not super bright, if you have half a brain and can execute you make a lot of money. Our construction company does 6 figures profit and I don't advertise it. We're booked out through 2026 - if you want my construction business to do a project for you we have openings in January 2027.

But sure the trades are a bad option lol

CollegeSenior · Mar 22, 2026

RUskoolie said:
I shifted into wanting to own a construction company when I was getting window quotes and the one owner of his window company told me he sold 10M of windows in a year. I knew then there was an opportunity. You combine that with most of those guys are not super bright, if you have half a brain and can execute you make a lot of money. Our construction company does 6 figures profit and I don't advertise it. We're booked out through 2026 - if you want my construction business to do a project for you we have openings in January 2027.

But sure the trades are a bad option lol

So you’re saying that that went to college, learned how to think, and are hiring these guys to do the demanding physical labor while you make a lot of money.

RUskoolie · Mar 22, 2026

Knight Shift said:
$50K is a pittance. That's pathetic. Granted it was software, but my kid started at $120K 2 years ago

Then your kid is driven with a big brain.

Most college kids (including Rutgers) I seriously have no idea how they were accepted.

These are 3 questions I ask to intern for me and 50% of RUTGERS students cannot answer

1. Do you know how to mail a letter? If yes - please show me where everything goes on the envelope
2. Do you know what a mailbox looks like that is on the street that you put the letter into? If yes- what color?
3. Can you open a lockbox? Here is the combination.

Real brain buster questions I need to ask to vet these kids.

That's why most of them go home and work at a tanning salon or be a substitute teacher. They have no skills at all and now 100k in the hole.

Rualexandria · Mar 22, 2026

Kbe4 said:
It's such a jolt seeing what college costs today. Back in the late Sixties-early Seventies when I was a Rutgers student...commuter as I lived nearby...tuition was $200 a semester, with $35 student fees. When my friends who have kids getting near high school graduation and thinking about college ask me what should they do in the face of this staggering cost I honestly don't know what to tell them. It seems like a scholarship or student loans are the only option for families that aren't rich. Income for the average family hasn't risen at the staggerig rate that the cost of a college education has since back in the good old days.
One of my friends actually claimed that all the trouble me and my buds caused back when we were in school during the Vietnam war caused the powers that be to decide that maybe it wasn't such a good idea to make a college education affordable for less than wealthy families. Unless the kid was really good at sports of course.
Big mistake IMO. The better educated the population is the better off the society is.

Same with me. I graduated in Rutgers College in 1972 and Newark Law in 1975. The law school was a similar deal with tuition and fees of $460 per semester.

RUskoolie · Mar 22, 2026

CollegeSenior said:
So you’re saying that that went to college, learned how to think, and are hiring these guys to do the demanding physical labor while you make a lot of money.

Bro Rutgers taught me nothing about business and finance. I didn't take one class of either at Rutgers. I am self-educated in that regard.

I also do not shy away from getting my hands dirty on jobs sites while needed. It's much easier to be responsible for one trade and do one skill over and over again vs an entire project. It's not fun. It's like being the head coach vs the place kicker.

CollegeSenior · Mar 22, 2026

RUskoolie said:
Bro Rutgers taught me nothing about business and finance. I didn't take one class of either at Rutgers. I am self-educated in that regard.

I also do not shy away from getting my hands dirty on jobs sites while needed. It's much easier to be responsible for one trade and do one skill over and over again vs an entire project. It's not fun. It's like being the head coach vs the place kicker.

I didn’t say business or finance. I said “think.”

Most of HS is repeating back the lessons. College teaches you how to think.

I know a bunch of people who work in the trades. The two most successful ones went to college and built businesses.

RUskoolie · Mar 22, 2026

CollegeSenior said:
I didn’t say business or finance. I said “think.”

Most of HS is repeating back the lessons. College teaches you how to think.

Wrong - college teach kids what to think. That's the problem. I had to learn how to think in my first job and it was a real adjustment for me. Again Rutgers has very little to do with my business success, the couple hundred books on my bookshelf do.

CollegeSenior · Mar 22, 2026

RUskoolie said:
Wrong - college teach kids what to think. That's the problem. I had to learn how to think in my first job and it was a real adjustment for me. Again Rutgers has very little to do with my business success, the couple hundred books on my bookshelf do.

Then we had very different educations at RU.

mynameisdick · Mar 22, 2026

24Babybull said:
This:
The federal government officially took over the origination of new student loans on
July 1, 2010, under the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010. This legislation mandated that all federal student loans be made directly through the Department of Education rather than private banks.

Yes, research indicates that college tuition has increased following expansions in federal student loans, a trend often described by the "
Bennett Hypothesis." Studies suggest that for every dollar of increased federal aid, colleges and universities may raise tuition by as much as 60 cents, capturing a significant portion of the available loans.

100% this. If you create low cost financing for anything it will lead to overconsumption. Only way to fix this is to remove the (artificial) ability to pay. That’s when these schools will be forced to make the difficult decisions about how to bring costs down. And yes that may include sports.

Knight Shift · Mar 22, 2026

RUskoolie said:
Then your kid is driven with a big brain.

Most college kids (including Rutgers) I seriously have no idea how they were accepted.

These are 3 questions I ask to intern for me and 50% of RUTGERS students cannot answer

1. Do you know how to mail a letter? If yes - please show me where everything goes on the envelope
2. Do you know what a mailbox looks like that is on the street that you put the letter into? If yes- what color?
3. Can you open a lockbox? Here is the combination.

Real brain buster questions I need to ask to vet these kids.

That's why most of them go home and work at a tanning salon or be a substitute teacher. They have no skills at all and now 100k in the hole.

Yes, our oldest was born with a big brain. Crushed the computer science curriculum at Rutgers with a perfect GPA until the last semester, getting a B+ in a graduate level course. Got into Rutgers on some scholarship that covered 75-80% of costs. I just checked on Grok, and the company does pay significantly over market for entry level (which seems to be about $90-105K per year).

Youngest is smart too, but not as smart as oldest. Got the same scholarship as the oldest did at Rutgers, but Rutgers but not in the program he wanted. THe went to a smaller private school and is completing his masters in a Physician Assistant program. Near perfect GPA. That kid has upper level management potential because he has great leadership and people skills.

They understand that hard work (especially grunt work) pays off. We do most of our own maintenance on our rental properties. After Superstorm Sandy, we had mounds of sand to shovel out of our yard and a ton of waterlogged junk in the basement. Both kids worked with us for an entire week without a single gripe. Also, both volunteered extensively, including on the volunteer fire department alongside me. I told them whether they continued with it or not, it is a good leadership crucible and to see how people react and think under pressure and to learn how to use tools and heavy equipment-never a bad thing to learn.

The Mrs and I were both engineering majors. She has a huge brain, and I barely scraped by, but through hard work, no quit and a lot of grit, I gutted it out and made my way. She had a near perfect GPA in undergrad and her master's. I always kid the kids and say be glad you got her brains.

Humble bragging aside, $50K is insanely low for an entry level engineering position. Grok (not infallible) says about $75-80K per year.

Bueller · Mar 22, 2026

RUskoolie said:
Wrong - college teach kids what to think. That's the problem. I had to learn how to think in my first job and it was a real adjustment for me. Again Rutgers has very little to do with my business success, the couple hundred books on my bookshelf do.

I was all sports (three) in HS. I read the books given to me and I did papers but I didn't learn how to learn. It was all monkey hear monkey speak. College taught me how to learn but mainly because I found something I liked to learn about and had a top prof.

After college I learned how to unlearn the junk. Schopenhauer wrote about the "natural mind" and the "artificial mind." The natural mind is what you learn and understand from experience - its an organic thing. The artificial mind is about the abstractions education can put in your mind. Those collect as "education" but in a superficial and lopsided way. A lopsided mind can make a person awkward and neurotic.

In grad school it occurred to me that I thought I was learning a lot but I was learning more and more about less and less - getting deeper into the goo of knowledge and analysis. Understanding and realization were push to the background. I skipped the next level of grad school and learned trade skills at night.

Working with hands frees the mind. When done outside under the sky and in the dirt there is a sweet spot that's hard to find at a desk. But then the desk stuff gets better too. In the Ottoman Empire the rulers had to learn
languages, and specific crafts (like jewelry-making or carpentry) to ensure self-reliance. Suleiman the Magnificent was a silversmith. Churchill had bricklaying as a hobby. The "aha" experiences often come while engaged in some task while the mind is open,

Knight Shift · Mar 22, 2026

The RUT said:
No, I went to a small D3 school for lacrosse. Always said I majored in lacrosse, women, and beer

Either I wasn't listening, or I was too distracted from the "threats" being lobbed at us from the University of Spoiled Children fans. My wife still gives me a hard time about that night, reminding me it's a good thing I don't drink, because I would be getting in fights at football games.

Knight Shift · Mar 22, 2026

newell138 said:
They said the same thing about the automobile

How many horse and carriage drivers do you see nowadays?

Knight Shift · Mar 22, 2026

RUskoolie said:
Wrong - college teach kids what to think. That's the problem. I had to learn how to think in my first job and it was a real adjustment for me. Again Rutgers has very little to do with my business success, the couple hundred books on my bookshelf do.

That could have something to do with your major.
Math, science and engineering majors, and probably majors such as accounting and business teach how to think. For STEM majors, working in the labs with grad students and for professors can be invaluable experience.
Your statement is likely more applicable to liberal arts majors.

CollegeSenior said:
Then we had very different educations at RU.

My experience was also very different, but in engineering.

The RUT · Mar 22, 2026

Knight Shift said:
Either I wasn't listening, or I was too distracted from the "threats" being lobbed at us from the University of Spoiled Children fans. My wife still gives me a hard time about that night, reminding me it's a good thing I don't drink, because I would be getting in fights at football games.

That was definitely the most vocal fan base I've been around.

It's one thing when it's the younger college aged kids yelling at you, it's another when you've got a lady in her 60s screaming at us that Rutgers sucks

Knight Shift · Mar 22, 2026

The RUT said:
That was definitely the most vocal fan base I've been around.

It's one thing when it's the younger college aged kids yelling at you, it's another when you've got a lady in her 60s screaming at us that Rutgers sucks

She was the one I feared the most from that group of miscreants.
I wonder how many of them will come to SHI stadium for the USC game this year?

Anon1753438667 · Mar 22, 2026

Have this same convo in my house. 2 sons in college - tuition is $34-36k/year in state for business and engineering.

How AI is going to impact their career fields is still a big unknown…and it’s scary as a parent not knowing how well they will get experience (internships are super competitive).

Which makes taking on the debt even more difficult. My fear is the jobs my kids will be competing for will also be against these recently terminated employees…making the job market even more competitive.

fsng · Mar 22, 2026

LETSGORU91 said:
The jury is out on what you say there. Today's kids dont strike me as ones to rush into hands on, physical, trade work. If they were smart, they would. But they are too busy staring at their phones instead of developing skills leading them towards a future in trade work.

Always a neat sound bite. But I dont recall my peer group wanting to rush into hands on, physical labor, either. Maybe too busy checking our dumb phones and Gmail? Not like the trades weren't a safe bet back then, too.

What I do remember is those parents who were doing physical, hard labor doing it so their kids could go to college and have an easier path. Just like every, single parent here is doing for their kids (often minus the physical labor part) in spite of singing the praises of the trades (for all those unnamed 'others').

Such weird discussions, these.

fsng · Mar 22, 2026

CollegeSenior said:
So you’re saying that that went to college, learned how to think, and are hiring these guys to do the demanding physical labor while you make a lot of money.

Bingo.

fsng · Mar 22, 2026

RUskoolie said:
Bro Rutgers taught me nothing about business and finance. I didn't take one class of either at Rutgers. I am self-educated in that regard.

I also do not shy away from getting my hands dirty on jobs sites while needed. It's much easier to be responsible for one trade and do one skill over and over again vs an entire project. It's not fun. It's like being the head coach vs the place kicker.

So you shouldn't have gone to RU then?

Four extra years of doing what you do would have you even farther ahead, no?

And I guess it goes without saying that if you have kids, they aren't going to college but straight into launching a business. Heck, maybe even skip those last months of HS once they're 18.

RUTGERS95 · Mar 22, 2026

PSU_Nut said:
I always felt they calculate finacial aid backwards. The cost of the college should not depend on the cost of the school, You should qualify for a fixed amount which should be capped. As is now if based on income my expected family contribution is $5k if I got to State U for $30k I get $25k while if I went to Private U for $50k I get $45k in aid. I feel it would be better if they just set a flat rate, for example qualify for $25k in aid and you go State U you pay $5k and Private U you pay $25k. This would incentize colleges to actually keep college costs down.

consider yourself lucky. many don't qualify for anything and pay full freight

RUTGERS95 · Mar 22, 2026

CollegeSenior said:
50 years ago I graduated from a NJ Parochial and went to RU. The tuition at my HS and RU have been almost equal for all of that time, with my HS always just a little more. Today my HS charges 16,225 vs RU 14,933 (plus fees). Plenty of Private and Parochial HS charge more. Some a lot more.

Education has gotten expensive for many reasons but RU isn’t out of line with high schools and national public universities.

you want to compare private HS to Rutgers?

L
O
L

RUTGERS95 · Mar 22, 2026

this is interesting to see the views and personal experiences. I have hired many people in my career and while I've got, what I believe to be the best RU kids I've seen working for me, the best and most prepared kids I've come across are from Northeastern, MIT, Purdue, A&M, Baruch, and UF. All those kids are smart, hard working, think outside the box, have drive and just do well. I get requests from 3 universities I'm engaged with for help to place graduates (full time and internships) and grill them nicely but I do grill them. The schools I mentioned, hands down pump out kids that are ready to roll.

I agree with @RUskoolie here the most and see, share, and view things very similar. The world is changing, concerns me greatly with my kids and think the current generation is wefully unprepared. Parenting matters, many suck at it

When I taught at Rutgers Graduate Business School, I taught them how to think and to forget the bs in the books. Every single kid that I spoke to loved the class and that approach and many reached out to me years later to express the same as something came up in their professional careers. Practical application and persistence matters far more than the guy behind the syllabus with the PhD. Head of the finance department wanted me to have them build a working model for prepayments on asset backed securities....I LOL'd at him

Fat Koko · Mar 22, 2026

hoquat63 said:
This topic finally got me to reregister on the new board.
Topic is one of few I actually can claim any expertise since about 26 years of my 30+ years at RU was spent working in the finance area of the administration. I too started as a student at RU when tuition was $200, and was same all four years (class of 70).
One huge factor in tuition increase over the years I worked there was the continuing decline in funding from the state of NJ to support the University. Been retired for 20+ years now so I can’t quote any recent stats, but there were quite a few years when it was part of my job to calculate possible tuition rate increases to partially offset reductions in state funding, to be part of the budget cuts eliminating jobs (including so called bloated admin jobs - like custodians, secretaries, librarians, etc.) , replacing full time tenured faculty positions with much cheaper part time and cutting nonsalary expenses. Even tougher when the budget reduction comes 3 months after the year started (state transferred budget allocation 25% each quarter - really tough when you get told in November, guess what you are not getting all of the money we told you you were getting
Everything costs more - I remember (worked in student payroll early on) the $2.00/ hour wage. When I was student worker in the 60’s, I made even less than that. Don’t know current pay scales but I am sure nobody is working for $2 now. Heck, when I was lucky to land a full time job at the University in 1970 I was thrilled to be getting about $7,500 a year!

State support for Rutgers has been rising. The decline in 2026 state-paid fringe appears to be made up by growth in "other sources revenue" though the budget doesn't say whether this other sources revenue comes from the state.

The governor's budget features a 10.2% increase for senior public colleges and universities in 2027.

Here are recent stats.

RUskoolie · Mar 22, 2026

CollegeSenior said:
Then we had very different educations at RU.

You probably majored in some thing worthwhile. I did not. Thankfully, my work ethic Pulled me out of the hole or I would’ve been like one of the many people with a useless college degree in a useless job.

OT: Anyone else think Rutgers is absurdly expensive?

All-American

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Redshirt

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Junior

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