GCC EOF Mission Statement

The New Jersey Educational Opportunity Fund contributes to the development of a college-educated public that reflects the diversity of New Jersey.  In partnership New Jersey colleges and universities, the Fund provides access to higher education and support for highly motivated students who exhibit the potential for success, but who come from families/communities disadvantaged by low income and the lack of access to the quality of educational preparation necessary to attend college. Through its partnership with participating institutions of higher education, the Fund seeks to maximize educational opportunities for EOF students by providing direct program services designed to promote persistence through degree completion. Accordingly, EOF supports innovative educational initiatives, supplemental instruction, support services, and leadership development activities to improve the student’s chance of academic success. In concert with other sources of student financial assistance, the Fund also attempts to make college affordable for those students who find the costs of higher education an impediment to access and student persistence.

History of the Educational Opportunity Fund

In November 1967, in the aftermath of the previous summer's riots in Newark, New Jersey's newly-appointed Chancellor of Higher Education, Ralph A. Dungan, directed a memorandum to the presidents of all of the state's institutions of higher education. In it he outlined a proposed program of special assistance to young men and women from economically and educationally disadvantaged backgrounds. The presidents' response was immediate, widespread, and overwhelmingly favorable. Enthusiasm was particularly marked at those institutions that were participating in the federally supported Upward Bound Program, which sought to help high school students from disadvantaged backgrounds prepare for entry into college.
The following February, the Select Commission on Civil Disorders (the Lilly Commission, established in response to the events in Newark) made its report to Governor Richard Hughes, who subsequently submitted his Moral Recommitment message to the New Jersey State Legislature. The message called for the establishment of a broad range of programs to address the basic conditions the Commission had cited as contributing to the summer's unrest. Among those programs was the Educational Opportunity Fund, established by legislation sponsored by then - freshman legislator Thomas Kean.
EOF set the pace for many initiatives which today are widely incorporated into college life. Among the many powerful strategies implemented by EOF are precollege articulation, basic skills testing and remediation, systematic retention efforts, peer counseling and peer tutoring, academic support courses, multicultural curricula and human relations programming, student leadership development, and outcomes-based program evaluation.
EOF has also been a leader and a linchpin in the higher education system's effort to increase diversity. While participation is not limited to minority students, EOF sponsors more than one-third of the African American and Latino students at the state colleges and New Jersey's independent institutions, and over one-quarter of the African American and Latino students enrolled at New Jersey colleges and universities participate in the EOF program. EOF enrolls about 12.5% of the first-time; full-time New Jersey freshmen who enter the state's colleges and universities each fall.
To find out more information on New Jersey Educational Opportunity Fund program please visit http://www.state.nj.us/highereducation/EOF/index.html.