Takeaway: AAUP-BHSNJ and Rutgers AAUP-AFT won additional funding in Governor Murphy’s proposed budget for Fiscal Year 2023 to offset increased fringe costs for faculty with grant funding.
Dear colleague,
We are pleased to announce that, due to our unions’ strong advocacy, $35 million has been included in Governor Murphy’s proposed state budget for the coming year (FY2023) to offset the cost of increased fringe rates at public research universities in New Jersey. The substantial annual increases to the fringe rate affect our competitiveness in winning external grant funding. Excessive fringe rate increases eat up scarce grant dollars, which unfortunately means they cannot be dedicated to our research mission.
The proposed $35 million in extra state funding is an increase from the current year’s allocation of $10 million, which will be distributed to Rutgers and the other public research universities in the state. Rutgers’ share of the FY2022 funds is $7.3 million. We’d expect a similar proportional share of the total for FY2023. The University sent an email about this year’s funds earlier today.
We will work with the Rutgers administration to ensure that funds are distributed in a fair and transparent manner. We also recognize that while this is a start, the increased state funding alone is not the permanent fix that is needed. There is a shared interest in getting this right. We will continue to work with the Rutgers administration, Governor Murphy, and other state leaders for a fair fringe rate that reflects actual costs and supports our research mission.
Thank you to all of the faculty PIs in both of our unions who have been working on this over the past year as part of our joint union PI Advisory Committee. Your voices are being heard. If you are interested in joining the PI Advisory Committee, please reply to this email. If you have questions, concerns, or suggestions, please let us know, and we’ll work with you.
In solidarity,
Catherine Monteleone, President, AAUP-BHSNJ
Rebecca Givan, President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT