We are AFT Local 1904, and we are making a difference every day by:
Fighting for affordable tuition & fees for all students, irrespective of income level.
We do this by supporting legislation that increases state funding for higher education in New Jersey. We have lobbied in support of A-405 sponsored by Assemblyman Diegnan (D-18) and S-1456 sponsored by Senator Turner (D-15). The bill expands the Tuition Aid Grant (TAG) program to part-time undergraduate students at the senior public colleges and universities such as Montclair State. We support this bill because:
Offering scholarships for our students to applaud their achievements & offset tuition bills.
Pushing for staffing the classrooms, the library and offices with faculty, staff, & librarians to meet the needs of our students.
AFT Local 1904 is greatly concerned that as the student body has grown at Montclair State the number of faculty, staff and librarians employed by the University has not increased proportionally. Our student to faculty ratios have increased 21% over 10 years. This is not a concern just for this campus but at all of the 9 campuses in our bargaining unit. Enrollment has increased at all 9 institutions by 18.43% while the number of full-time employees (faculty, professional staff and librarians) has only increased 5.74% over the last 4 years.
Fighting for affordable tuition & fees for all students, irrespective of income level.
We do this by supporting legislation that increases state funding for higher education in New Jersey. We have lobbied in support of A-405 sponsored by Assemblyman Diegnan (D-18) and S-1456 sponsored by Senator Turner (D-15). The bill expands the Tuition Aid Grant (TAG) program to part-time undergraduate students at the senior public colleges and universities such as Montclair State. We support this bill because:
- Current data show that the average college tuition and fees have doubled in the last 25 years.
- New Jersey has one of the highest rates of public tuition in the nation, averaging over $11,000 at state colleges and universities.
- We are greatly concerned that the national student loan debt is getting closer to the $1 trillion dollar mark and is now greater than the total credit card debt in the United States. Recent studies show that students are borrowing twice what they did a decade ago.
 |
| Why we do what we do |
Offering scholarships for our students to applaud their achievements & offset tuition bills.
- In 1996 AFT Local 1904 established the Becker-Keenen-Moore-Uhia-Waller (BKMUW) Scholarship at Montclair State University. Awards from the fund began in 1999 and since then 88 scholarships have been granted for a total of $44,500. For more information go to the Local’s website and click on the Scholarship Tab.
- AFT National established the Robert G. Porter Scholars Program in 1992. The Porter Scholarship is a four-year $8,000 Postsecondary Scholarship awarded to a graduating high school who is a dependent of an AFT member. For more information visit AFT National’s website.
Pushing for staffing the classrooms, the library and offices with faculty, staff, & librarians to meet the needs of our students.
AFT Local 1904 is greatly concerned that as the student body has grown at Montclair State the number of faculty, staff and librarians employed by the University has not increased proportionally. Our student to faculty ratios have increased 21% over 10 years. This is not a concern just for this campus but at all of the 9 campuses in our bargaining unit. Enrollment has increased at all 9 institutions by 18.43% while the number of full-time employees (faculty, professional staff and librarians) has only increased 5.74% over the last 4 years.
What can you do to help?
As you probably know, changes in the state’s funding formula need to occur in order to address these issues. Therefore we ask you to contact your state Assemblypersons and Senators and ask them to support funding for public higher education. To find out who your state legislators are click here.
