Navigating the Future of Higher Education Roundtable Discussion

By Jim Pytell, Managing Editor On Nov 7, 2025

In this installment of New Jersey Business Magazine’s continuing Business Roundtable Series, conducted in conjunction with the New Jersey Business & Industry Association, we discuss trending topics in higher education with the presidents of some of New Jersey’s top colleges.

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What role should colleges and universities play in addressing the state’s workforce gaps?

Houshmand: It’s all about partnership. You have to partner with these entities. There is a disconnect between industries and higher education in that we decide who to educate, how to educate, and in what majors, without necessarily knowing what the state needs in terms of the workforce. I think there should be more collaboration between industries.

Lim: I see the problem like a stool, and for a stool to stand up straight, it needs a minimum of three legs. The three legs that really need to come together to keep this stool upright are colleges and universities, business and industries, and government entities. That partnership has to be seamless.

What can higher ed and the business community do together to keep more graduates in New Jersey after they earn their degrees?

Houshmand: Internships for students, while they’re studying, are absolutely essential, and it really puts [students] ahead in terms of getting a good job. For example, we have a relationship with Lockheed Martin here in Moorestown. Every year, more than 100 students work for the company as interns, and by the time they finish their fourth year, every single one of them is hired. Every year, Lockheed Martin hires more than 100 of our engineers and scientists because they have tested them. They know how good they are and by the time they get to the fourth year, they pass their security clearance, and, for example, get a $90,000 job. I think we need to do a lot more of that, but we need to really incentivize industries to recognize the value and participate in internships.

Iacono: Sometimes what doesn’t get considered is the extraordinary business impact we have across this state. Without us, [these] businesses don’t really exist. We train about half of the nurses in my service area and 90% of the respiratory and radiography technicians. Can you imagine if we weren’t there, can you imagine what engineering would look like in New Jersey without their schools? All of these professionals that we rely on across the state – they’re coming out of our schools.

New Jersey has some of the highest tuition rates in the country. How can institutions make college more affordable and accessible to all residents?

Lim: All of us here work really, really hard trying to lower the effective out-of-pocket costs that we charge our students in educating them. For example, at NJIT for New Jersey residents, the average out-of-pocket cost is only $6,000 a year, even though our posted tuition is $18,000. We put a lot of our own money into discounting, or what you would call scholarships. We help students to apply for aid externally and within the state of New Jersey.

Houshmand: We’ve been working with county colleges and bringing them in as partners. We have a program called Rowan Choice where students get to live on our campus, but they really are Rowan College of South Jersey (RCSJ) students for two years and they pay that tuition. Alternatively, they can study for three years at RCSJ and pay $5,000 per year, and then attend Rowan in their fourth year.

With declining enrollment nationwide, how is your institution addressing enrollment pressures?

Lim: This fall, we’ve brought in our largest undergraduate class ever. Part of the reason we were able to buck the enrollment trend domestically is because of the type of degree that we offer. Most of our students who graduate get several job offers even before they graduate. That’s very appealing.

Iacono: The question is where is your enrollment programmatically? The liberal arts are in decline. However, business, technology, healthcare and engineering – they’re booming. If you combine my credit and noncredit enrollment, I’ve got the highest enrollment I’ve had in 25 years, because more and more students are being drawn to technical degrees and industry credentials. Not every high school student sees themselves with an associate or baccalaureate degree or more. They want to get to work, and these can be pathways to high paying careers.

Hancock: When we’re in an economy where we have more people looking for jobs than there are jobs available, we need our graduates to be the best version of themselves they can be. We need them as equipped as we can get them. So I think the idea that we’re seeing enrollments turn in New Jersey is a really promising statistic.

How are you approaching capital improvements at your university?

Houshmand: We are big economic engines, every single one of us. If we can find partners who come and work with us and create opportunities so that they can make money and then can make our system more efficient, everybody will win. For example, we have at least $400 million in projects going on currently. If I were to go and borrow [that money], I have to pay [it] back and pay massive interest on behalf of the students, which would increase the cost of education. If, on the other hand, I give it to a private developer to come in and build a facility, whether it’s a dorm, academic building, athletic facilities, or whatever it is, and they do it better and more efficiently and manage it, and we just get to use it, it’s much, much better. To me, the key is to use other people’s money. Find an opportunity where they can come and partner with you and you can grow together. 

Iacono: I actually give the state high marks for the community colleges, as we get chapter 12 funding, which is for capital improvements and major renovations. We’ve been able to do a lot of building and also a significant amount of renovations. But I do agree with my colleagues that it’s good for a lot of reasons when your community steps up and companies are putting money on the table, because it says that they’re interested, believe in you, and support you.

What lessons from the pandemic’s remote learning era are being carried forward into your long-term strategy?

Hancock: The speed at which remote learning – particularly at the K-12 level – had to come online during the pandemic gave it a negative connotation. We’ve had to do quite a bit of educating on how robust well-developed online learning is at the collegiate level. So it wasn’t so much us learning, it’s that we have to educate others about how strong and robust it truly is when it’s done right.

Houshmand: We learned that we have to meet students where they are, rather than expecting them to come to your [physical] campus.

Lim: I don’t think the pandemic changed the force of higher education or [our] institution, but instead accelerated it. Without the pandemic, we would have gotten to this point maybe a decade later, but the pandemic forced us to get there sooner.

How would you describe the current state of higher education in New Jersey? What makes the Garden State unique in this sector?

Hancock: I’m optimistic. New Jersey has a tremendous higher ed ecosystem, but we need to look at how we’re organized. We have some realities that we have to face, and we need to be coordinated in those efforts. I think we need to move beyond thinking about it with winners and losers, and look at how we are serving all of New Jersey in a way that’s going to sustain innovation, growth and affordability in the long run.

Iacono: I see a lot of things working very well, particularly on the community college side and their relationship with senior institutions. New Jersey’s community colleges have strong articulation agreements with all of our in-state senior schools, so our students can move easily from the associate level to the baccalaureate level. This has worked extremely well. In fact, it’s a big reason our students say they choose us as it gives them access to all of those universities

Lim: The sector is strong because it’s unique in the sense that it has diversity of institutional type and mission. Each of us play a key role in supporting the state’s higher educational system. 

Houshmand: There is not a system that tells us how to do things, and I think that gives us an ability, each of us, to chart our own course.

If you could change one thing about the way higher education works in New Jersey, what would it be?

Hancock: I would say consistency in level of funding.

Iacono: [There is a] lack of a strategic plan and cohesiveness that brings education to the table with business and industry to really develop something that is intentionally meaningful to all of us. I love New Jersey. It’s a beautiful state that offers a great quality of life, but it absolutely kills me watching the work that we do walk out of the state and enrich others.

Lim: We just want to be at the table, and we want to be part of the solution. We want the state to see us as an important entity that they cannot do without.

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