New study cites the benefits of community college in NJ

For some reason, there’s always been a prejudice against community colleges. And a prevailing thought that if you don’t go straight to a four-year school, you’re somehow behind, but it’s not true. Especially in New Jersey.

According to an article published by ROI-NJ, a new independent study finds that enrolling in one of New Jersey’s 18 community colleges adds $12.8 billion to our state’s economy every year. That’s a huge deal. According to the study, this supports more than 135,000 jobs. In fact, one out of every 46 jobs in New Jersey is connected in some way to our community colleges.

That’s huge. Here are some of the top reasons community college makes sense.

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First, the money. According to ROI-NJ's reporting on the study, graduates with an associate degree earn more than $10,000 a year over someone with just a high school diploma. Over a lifetime, that adds up. The study, according to ROI-NJ's reporting, found that for every $1 a student invests in community college, they get back $4.30 in higher lifetime earnings. That’s a 14.9% return. Wouldn’t you take that investment any day?

Second, it’s practical. Community colleges are kind of in sync with the workforce. It can be much easier to find a job after you graduate from community college in health care, skilled trades, tech, education, and small business. The people graduating are filling real jobs that New Jersey actually needs.

Third, community college students and graduates directly help to improve the economy. Alumni earnings alone generate $11.7 billion of that $12.8 billion total, according to ROI-NJ's reporting on the study. Then there’s operations, construction, and student spending. It all feeds back into our local economy.

And here’s the part many people don’t realize. For every dollar taxpayers invest in community colleges, the state gets back $2.60 in tax revenue and public savings, ROI-NJ reports based on information in the study.

Oh, and I don’t even think it needs to be said that spending $3,000 or $5,000 a year on community college surely beats $30,000 or more.

We spend a lot of time complaining about New Jersey being expensive. Community college is one of the smartest financial decisions you can make here.

It’s affordable. It’s local. And it keeps our state moving.

Opinions expressed in the post above are those of New Jersey 101.5 talk show host Judi Franco only.

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