Montclair State University announced it will close its School of Conservation in response to the economic crisis brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.
The university saw a 26% cut in state aid since March and has spent $24 million in responding to the coronavirus outbreak, according to the announcement released Thursday. Together, it amounted to a $34 million hit on the school’s finances.
While colleges have continued to operate remotely, they face staggering economic losses and uncertain enrollment for the fall 2020 semester.
Meanwhile, a state senator introduced a bill that would require schools to give students a 25% tuition refund for the spring semester, when classes moved online, but colleges say they do not have the money to give back without cutting staff, courses, financial aid and campus offerings.
Montclair State has run the School of Conservation since 1981, when it assumed control from the environmental protection department. It provided environmental education for teachers and students in schools and colleges and included a field research station, offering field trips and overnight stays for groups of up to 200.
The state cut funding for the school in 2010, but the university continued to pay its operational costs. But with the latest budget woes, the cost became too high.
“In an era when both the science of conservation, and the education of future generations about conservation is critically important, it is a matter of genuine and considerable regret to the University that we can no longer maintain the School,” Montclair State University President Susan Cole said in a statement.
“The New Jersey School of Conservation is yet one more casualty of the coronavirus, and it is a circumstance of great disappointment to me personally and to the university community that we must take this action," she said.
The closure will result in the job losses of 18 full-time and two part-time employees, according to the school. The buildings and land will return to the state Department of Environmental Protection.
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Amanda Hoover may be reached at ahoover@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @amandahoovernj.