For the growing number of financially strapped students who depend on New Jersey's help to attend school, uncertainty and anxiety have resulted from Christie's line-item vetoes of increased higher-education spending in the budget passed by the Democratic-controlled Legislature.
The budget's impact on programs and individual aid packages will not be known for weeks, but students and prospective enrollees are fearful of tuition increases, smaller grants, and more loan debt.
The stalled economy has increased demand for aid, said Andre Maglione, spokesman for the state's Higher Education Student Assistance Authority.
"Over the last couple years, more people have been seeking and been eligible" for the Tuition Assistance Grants program, which helps low- and moderate-income students, he said. Nearly one in three full-time college undergraduates in New Jersey receives TAG money, according to a state website.
When the governor announced his vetoes June 30, he accused the Legislature of crafting an unrealistic budget designed to make Democrats "look like Santa Claus in an election year."
He made hard choices, said Kevin Roberts, his spokesman, to support priorities such as restoring a portion of the aid cut from public school districts last year.
In higher-education aid to students, Christie threw out the Democrats' nearly $49 million increase to the TAG program, which had to shrink its grants because of demand. In the budget he introduced in February, Christie said he would bump up funding $27.3 million. Instead, he left it level.
