I’m writing about proposed legislation (Bill A3373) which has been referred to the Appropriation Committee of the New Jersey Legislature. It concerns the NJ STARS I and II scholarship program.
I am a 4.0 student who is paying for college herself. I was planning on using my NJ STARS II scholarship to transfer to Montclair State University for fall 2009. If the changes are approved, my full tuition and fees will no longer be fully paid, and I won’t be able afford to attend college. Yes, I would get the new partial scholarship and probably some other aid, but it would not be enough to cover tuition, fees, room and board, and school supplies. Also, if you are a NJ STAR, the other aid you get is subtracted from the STARS scholarship. So other aid I might get will still only go towards paying for part of my tuition. In today’s economy, I also fear that I would not be able to find (enough) student loans. Even when I didn’t have to worry about tuition and fees, I still worried about being able to pay my other college costs. I thought I might just be able to make it. But I know this will not be the case if the proposed legislation goes through.
It’s too late for me to change my college plans. After I found out about the proposed changes and what they meant for me, and the likelihood that the legislation would get pushed through, the deadline had passed for me to apply to Montclair for the spring 2009 term.
I would essentially be kicked out of the program if the changes go through. This is not fair since I have kept up my obligations to remain eligible. I’ve worked very hard, and I don’t understand why I, and students like myself, would not be grandfathered in. Since I would have graduated from Brookdale Community College on my NJ STARS I scholarship before next fall, it doesn’t help that that is the program I would remain fully eligible for. I need NJ STARS II.
I’ve been writing to my legislators and to the members of the appropriations committee in hopes that they realize that this legislation would be unfair to many students.
Jenna M. Dorsi
Keyport