NJPIRG Student Chapters is funded by Rutgers students through a waivable $11.20 fee that appears on the tuition bill.  This allows us to hire experts and organizers to work with the students at Rutgers to fight global warming, cleanup our water ways, make college affordable, and other issues we decide to work on.  Every three years, Rutgers students vote in a campus-wide referendum vote to reaffirm their support for NJPIRG Student Chapters and for funding our program work.  The most recent referendum was in 2007.  In that vote more than 12,500 Rutgers students, from 21 academic division voted, with approximately 90% of those students voting to continue to fund NJPIRG Student Chapters through a waivable fee on the tuition bill.

Why have a referendum?
We've been having referenda every three years since NJPIRG Student Chapters started at Rutgers as a way to reaffirm student support for the work that we do. The mandate from the student community that says that Rutgers students want clean air, clean water, affordable tuition, and an end to poverty gives us the ammunition it takes to get our work done. By having students vote to fund NJPIRG Student Chapters with a per student fee, we can count on those resources to keep doing our work in the future.  Groups at Rutgers are eligible to run the referendum through referendum guidelines established by the university senate.  The referendum requires a minimum voter turnout of 25%+1 students enrolled in each division to vote yes, as well as a majority of those who vote to vote yes.  In the last referendum, in the fall of 2007, more than 12,500 students voted.

How does NJPIRG Student Chapters spend the funding it receives?
When you look at the things we've done - increase Pell Grant funding, cut student loan interest rates, protect the Arctic wildlife refuge from oil drilling, and register more than 2500 voters a year - it's pretty clear that it's money well spent. The staff we hire and the campaigns we run do take resources, and with the challenges facing Rutgers students and the country over the next few years, you can be sure that our staff and students will use these resources to stand up to the special interests and win. Our clean water, our land use protections, consumer and student rights - they all rely on our ability to hire a crack team of experts and professionals to fight for students.

Besides, polluting industries spend millions of dollars each year just on campaign contributions to elected officials (that doesn't include their lobbyists, their propaganda, their campaign ads, etc.). A $11.20 fee every term is small change in comparison to what we're up against. That small change makes a big difference - they might spend tens of millions of dollars trying to avoid pollution regulations, but with the help of students here at Rutgers, we are able to protect our environment and public health. Student support gives us the opportunity to make a difference at the local and national level.

Where is the money spent?
Off and on campus, but mostly it goes to wherever NJPIRG Student Chapters’ resources will make a difference on the issues that students care about. The whole point of establishing NJPIRG Student Chapters is to be able to have the resources to hire a staff of professionals - attorneys, researchers, organizers, and advocates - to work with students to fight against the special interests wherever they are trying to pollute the environment, rip off consumers, or corrupt the democratic process.

Why does NJPIRG Student Chapters hire staff?
The problems that NJPIRG Student Chapters undertakes are large, often national, in scope. Staff are an important part of having an effective organization. They bring expertise to students' ideas and continuity to long term student campaigns.

Do students in each chapter decide what issues to work on?
Students decide on the campaigns that they want to work on both locally and at the statewide level. Student can bring campaign ideas to the statewide board, where students from different chapters get together and choose what to work on across the state. The problems that we face aren’t just local – everyone is fighting poverty, environmental destruction, and working for affordable education across the state and the country.

What do I do if I would like to get my fee refunded?
Your first option is to waive the fee on your tuition bill.  If you need a refund of your fee, you can contact info@njpirgstudents.org, or send a request along with your name, address, contact information and proof of payment to NJPIRG Student Chapters 119 Somerset St. New Brunswick, NJ 08901.