New Jersey Institute of Technology Profile

New Jersey Institute of Technology is a research and technology institution within New Jersey’s state education system. NJIT is unique because it’s located within the City of Newark’s University Heights. This city within a city shares educational, cultural, and financial resources with two other colleges, Rutgers University in Newark, and Essex County College.

The 45-acre footprint of University Heights offers students, employees, and visitors the opportunity to enjoy a large campus environment within a major urban center of New Jersey. NJIT is located in the City of Newark, which is in Essex County.

The campus has approximately 25 buildings including lecture, sports, science & research, and student housing facilities. The issue of student housing is an interesting subject at NJIT because the campus is going through a substantial growth period in regard to student housing and research facilities. Student housing is not guaranteed for freshman students, the school uses a lottery system for upper classman and a first come, first served approach for freshman. The New Jersey Institute of Technology’s housing system can accommodate 1,434 students according to published handouts. It seems that NJIT is trying to offer more student housing by developing business relationships with local building managers like the University Center which is a new apartment high rise within 2 blocks of the campus.

The internal campus setting provides students and employees with several types of student services including physical fitness, library services, cultural meeting places and dining halls. NJIT’s observed focal point of reference during my campus visit was the main sidewalk from the dining hall to the academic buildings and library. This area is called the green because the school is situated in a major city, and this was the only green I saw, except for the baseball field. I observed heavy pedestrian traffic from this area of the campus.

Demographics:

NJIT is home to approximately 3400 male and 900 female full time students. The university has 1200 male and 300 female part time students enrolled. The graduate school also has 2100 male and 1000 female students enrolled. The average age of a freshman is 18 years old. All undergraduates are 23 years old. 94% of students are state residents with the rest coming from 36 other states, and 109 foreign countries. 31% of students are white. 20% of students are Asian, 13% are Hispanic, and 11% are African American. Total students on campus was 8900.

Admission Requirements

• Freshman Class: 3,036 applied, 1,943 accepted, and 846 enrolled to the school. SAT Verbal 580, SAT Math 650. Application Deadline April 1.
• Faculty/ Classroom: 84% of faculty is male, 16% female. 74% teach Undergraduates. Graduate Assistants teach 15% of introductory courses. The average class size in an introductory lecture is 30; and 27 in laboratory, and finally 25 in a regular course.
• Student / Faculty Ratio: 14 to 1
• Retention Rate: 15% do not continue beyond 1st year, 49% remain to graduate.

Student Housing

NJIT has four residence halls that provide co-ed housing for freshman to senior students. Upper classman live an apartment style hall and Laural Hall. NJIT does not guarantee housing for students: housing assignments are made first come, first serve basis. In total, 1434 students can be accommodated in campus facilities. The school has started to develop housing resources for upper classman through its business relationships with several apartment buildings in the area including the University Center on Lock and Center Streets in Newark.

Off Campus Housing

University Heights has been described as a mini-city located in the middle of the largest city in New Jersey. This area is a multi-cultural residential community with large number of students. The reason I have mentioned the overall community of University Heights is to re-assert the point that New Jersey’s network of affiliated campuses has encapsulated it’s real estate holdings within the area. The demand for housing, especially off campus housing is usually a tough issue for institutions attempting to keep students within the general geographical area. NJIT has a web-site that describes student resources, I didn’t see an off campus housing site within the residence life section of the school’s handbook but the below site should help identifying available resources www.njit.edu/currentstudents/.

Campus Life

New Jersey Institute of Technology is an active multi-cultural public university campus environment that provides students with an outstanding social, and educational atmosphere. The admissions demographics paint a picture of a very diverse community with a high number of in state residents on campus as full, and part time students. The school does attract students from all over the world, but the numbers of in state people is still high. The local community of University Heights is a city within a city that adds to the universities international status because the community has multi-cultural roots as well.

The emotional climate of the entire community is intellectual. NJIT’s demographics highlight a 94% in state student population with student parking privileges to all students. These lifestyle factors identify a classic suit-case college mentality with 75% of students commuting, or going home on the weekends. The City of Newark has limited rental property for students in the University Heights area because students and working families are competing for the affordable housing.

The total student population in the area is approximately 25,000 according to the Census and university data. Students who require off campus housing sometimes move over to Irvington to live. NJIT has improved the issue of campus life over the past several years by building on campus residence facilities. NJIT understands the value of students staying within the local community but finding and building facilities will always be costly. The added pressure for university officials to maintain a large in-state population is always going to keep students going home on the weekend, which hurts the out-of state and international students looking for group activities.

This issue of school culture is also a very important part of campus life because everyone wants to have a connection and emotional fit to their new school and community. NJIT has done a great job developing positive social systems with its students by providing a series of coordinated programs including workshops and seminars for freshman students. This type of process provides a foundation for learning and personal growth by providing numerous academic clubs, student organizations, and sports activities for students to interact with each other. NJIT is also home to a substantial Greek population with 12% of students belonging to 10 national fraternities and 5 national sororities.

The down side of sports activities on the University Heights campus is the limited number of organized teams to watch and root for. The up side is the available exercise facilities within the Fleisher Athletic Center. NJIT participates in nine NCAA Division III Varsity Sports for Men, and six Varsity Sports for Women. The campus student handbook identifies 13 intramural sports including bowling.

Public Transportation

New Jersey Transit provides bus, rail and light rail service to the University Heights section of Newark. The N.J. Transit system provides reliable public transportation services to students who don’t have vehicles on campus. The university has a very large number of in-state students who know the streets and highways very well. Knowing the area is key because students who come from other states may not know the area as well and might opt to take a bus or train to their destination because they don’t want to risk getting lost on local roads.

The city of Newark is considered the largest transportation hub within the state because both the N.J. Transit and the Port Authority provide rail service with direct links to the northeast corridor. Newark Penn Station is a 10-Minute walk from the campus and students can connect to national rail services with (Amtrak) and airport services at Newark Liberty with N.J. Transit. NJIT also provides shuttle bus service in connection with Rutgers University for students in the University Heights section.

Community Profile

The University Heights section of Newark is unique because it offers students a university feel while encapsulating itself from the rest of the city. The property outline for NJIT, Rutgers/ Newark, and Essex County College goes from Broad Street to Lock Street and Orange Street to Raymond Blvd, which is easily 20 city blocks long and wide. The local community also shares several cultural meeting places including the Newark Museum and Essex County Court House. University Heights is a city within a city because the main population in this area is students, university employees, campus visitors, and young working professionals.

The community overall is intellectual in nature due to the student population, but the feeling goes away at night, and on the weekends because students stay very close to the physical campus or go home.

NJIT is located within walking distance to downtown, which is less busy after 6:00PM on the weekdays, and weekends.

The City of Newark is the largest urban community within the State of New Jersey and with size comes transportation resources. Newark is linked by almost every major roadway system within N.J.: The Turnpike, Garden State Parkway, Routes 21, 22, and 1 & 9, and 78, which all pass through the city to all points north, south, east, and west.

Community demographics

The following demographics for the City of Newark New Jersey describe a multi-cultural community within a total population of 281,402 according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The survey highlights several characteristics to describe the population including: 48% of residents are male, 52 are female. 16% of residents are white, 53% are African American, 30% are Hispanic or Latino, and 1% is Asian. The median age of population is 32 years old. 28% of residents are 18 years old or over and 9% of city residents is over the age of 65. 87% of all housing units within the city are occupied. 74% of housing units are renter-occupied, while 24% of units are owner-occupied. The Census Bureau also reports 13 % of total available housing was vacant.

Local weather

New Jersey enjoys all four seasons of weather including rain and snow. Northeast weather patterns sometimes allow for temperatures to drop below 32 degrees for a considerable amount of time during the winter. New Jersey also gets it’s share of rain during the spring and summer months as well.

New Jersey Institute of Technology Hotel Quick Links Page

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Below is a list of hotel accommodations within a 15-minute drive to the campus.

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Below is a sample list of local restaurants in Newark N.J. National restaurant chains & shopping resources can be found on Route 1 & 9 in, and around Newark Liberty Airport along with the Jersey Gardens Mall in nearby Elizabeth N.J.

• Steak Escape Newark Airport: (973) 596-1880
• Fernandez Steakhouse: 158 Fleming Ave (973) 589-4344
• Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill (National Chain) 383 Springfield Ave (973) 242-3600
• Your Oasis Steaks & Fish:1020 South Orange Ave (973) 372-8825
• Just Fish Seafood Restaurant:357 South Orange Ave (973) 622-6666
• River Bank Restaurant:618 Market Street (973) 589-5081

The Your College Profile web site also contains an “Everything in New York City” document for families who wish to explore the NYC while visiting NJIT. This site contains a full list of hotels, restaurants, shopping, and entertainment, and tourism resources for families enjoying the region.

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NJIT Quick Links Page

• Home Page: www.njit.edu
• Maps & Directions: www.njit.edu/visit/gettingonjit.php
• Admissions: www.njit.edu/admissions
• Financial Aid: www.njit.edu/admissions/continuingeducation/costs.php
• Student Activities: www.njit.edu/v2/activities/organizations.html
• Fraternity & Sorority Life: www.njit.edu/studentlife/greeklife.php
• Student Center: http://campuscenter.njit.edu/forms/policies.php
• Public Transportation Services: www.njit.edu/currentstudents/
• Information Technology Center http://ist.njit.edu/about/index.php
• Health Insurance: www.studentPlansCenter.com
• Medical Services: www.njit.edu/healthservices/
• Student Housing: www.njit.edu/reslife/docs/2009-reslife-at-njit.pdf
• University Meal Plan: www.njit.edu/reslife/mealplan.php.
• Off Campus Housing: www.njit.edu/currentstudents/
• Campus Parking: www.njit.edu/parking/commuter-sales-tax.php

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