The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated New Jersey’s colleges, causing multimillion-dollar shortfalls that have forced layoffs, declines in enrollment, and financial and mental health difficulties for students, a number of college leaders, students and professors told a state Senate committee Thursday. Jonathan Holloway, president of Rutgers University, put the state university’s cumulative pandemic-related deficit, including both lost revenues and increased costs, at $180 million despite having taken cost-cutting actions.
