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Princeton exempt from N.J. bill that seeks to ban compulsory meal plans in colleges

The University was the only school exempt from a state legislative bill that seeks to ban all public and private New Jersey colleges and universities from forcing students to purchase meal plans.

Assembly Bill No. 2811 passed the general assembly of the state legislature last week.

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The University was exempt from the banning of mandated meal plans for students because of its high graduation rates and its financial aid program that offers “need-blind” tuition to lower-income families, Executive Director of the New Jersey Association of State Colleges and Universities Michael Klein ’87 said.

“[Princeton] provides so much financial aid so generously through the proceeds of its endowment and scholarship programs and the no-loan policy put in place by [former University] President [Harold] Shapiro [GS ’64] several years ago, I think there is acknowledgement that Princeton does everything it can for low income students to afford to attend Princeton,” Klein said.

Assembly Bill No. 2811 is one of the 20 package bills introduced in March, all relating to the cost of higher education in New Jersey.

Klein explained that New Jersey is fourth in the country in average in-state tuition and fees for four-year public universities, which is what prompted the bills to come out.

“There has been concern over the cost of higher education in the past few years,” Klein said. “The issue has been on the minds of people for some time, and these bills reflect that.”

The bill’s sponsor, Assemblyman Joseph Cryan (D-Union), told NJ.com that eight out of 10 students go into debt from day oneat many schools and are buying “that $5 hamburger” on the cost of a meal plan.

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“By the time you get paying the interest, it’s significantly more, and it’s not just a hamburger — it’s a hamburger deluxe,” Cryan said.

Cryan did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

In addition, Klein noted that only one of the 20 bills, Assembly Bill No. 2803, is expected to affect the University.

A2803 requires independent colleges like the University to report consumer information on their webpages, and it requires disclosure into information on remedial instruction. The report would include information regarding graduation rates, ratio of full-time faculty to part-time and other measurements that assess the quality of the institution.

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“There is something called the Consumer Information Report that public institutions already have to fulfill, and this bill would extend that requirement to independent colleges,” Klein said.

Although the bills have passed the lower house of the legislature, Klein said he expects the chances of these bills becoming laws to be very low, noting that president of the New Jersey Senate Stephen Sweeney said in arecent interviewthat he did not intend to move the bills past the state senate.

The bills would have to pass the New Jersey Senate and receive New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s signature before they become laws, and the state senate has shown no signs of passing the education bills.

Christie is also an ex officio member of the University’s Board of Trustees.