By Bryant Romero—

The New Jersey City University campus community feels that the Building Our Future Bond will be good for the school, but have mixed feelings on the effect it can have on students. The bond was called “Proposition Number 1” on the election ballot and was recently approved this past November. The referendum will authorize $750 million in bonds that will provide grants to New Jersey’s colleges and universities. The bond funds will only be used to rebuild academic and research facilities.

The NJCU Student Government Organization (SGO) formally voted to approve the measure and made the university community aware of The Building Our Future Bond, launching an ad campaign around the school in hopes of getting people to get out the vote.

SGO had students hold up “Yes on Proposition 1!” posters and had them take pictures to put up online. They also posted lawn signs and posters on and off campus to raise awareness to the measure.

Jan Aguilos, 25, Political Science/Media Arts major from Kinnelon, said, “We sponsored, we tabled, brought pizza and we started noticing other schools doing the same thing with instragram pictures and Twitter.”

Aguilos hopes the money can be used to help fix support specific buildings on campus.

“The K-Building, Rossey Hall, and definitely the Science building. I think it needs it the most,” said Aguilos. “I also think that the bond money is only for academic buildings, so the GSUB probably won’t get money.”

NJCU will have the opportunity to provide students with state of the art research, science, and academic buildings. However, the school will be responsible to pay at least 25 percent of the cost, which has caused some concern around campus on how the University will come up with the money and if tuition will go up.

“It’ll probably be good for the school, but I think it will raise tuition because the schools demand money,” said Robert Mastromonaco, 25, Media Arts major, from Bayonne.

In an interview, Aaron Aska, Vice President of Administration and Finance, said that, “NJCU will receive approximately $21 to $24 million to apply to projects already under consideration. And, it is more accurate to say that the future rate of tuition and fee increases will be slowed, since the University is receiving much needed support from state through the Build Our Future Bonds. The proceeds from the state will be used to support the construction of an academic building for Music, Dance and Theater programs, and for general purpose classrooms. This facility will be constructed on the University’s West Campus Property, which will be remediated next year. The 25 percent match and overall debt service payments will be funded through a combination of additional state funding, and the university’s facility fee.”

Aska noted that, “The funds will be received sometime next year, after legislative approval and review by the Office of the Secretary of Higher Education.”

The university also has specific plans for the money and “is planning on developing an academic building to support the Music, Dance and Theater programs, and to provide additional all-purpose-classrooms. Also, the university plans on renovating and expanding the Science Building. Although the $21 or $24 million is not sufficient to cover the projected cost of a new building, additional funding maybe provided through other state programs, fund-raising and additional borrowing,” said Aska.

The $750 million bond referendum is the biggest investment in higher education funding in New Jersey since 1988, when voters approved a $350 million bond act for academic buildings. Those bonds have since been spent and since 1999 New Jersey has not spent any annual investment in capital projects, while states like New York and Connecticut have spent hundreds and millions of dollars annually. The bonds will be available to 49 public and private institutions in New Jersey, with $150 million set aside for community colleges, $300 million for large public universities, $250 million for state colleges, and $50 million for private institutions.

“I think it’s very good for the school,” said Katherine Ramirez, 21, Psychology major, from Jersey City. “I think it’s worth it, every school needs renovations.”