New from Harvard Extension School

[sanantone]

TESU is not a part of Rutgers. Rutgers doesn't have a guide telling you to put "Rutgers University, Thomas Edison Extension" on your resume.

They're both part of the New Jersey public university and college system. Chris Christie's 2010 budget proposal initially called for TESC to merge into Rutgers. One theme of the pushback that rose up immediately was that systems and processes that work for Rutgers programs and Rutgers students often wouldn't work well for TESC programs and TESC students. Rutgers students are principally B&M, and 88% of Rutgers–New Brunswick undergrad students are under age 30.

Well, maybe a package of autonomy and differentiation can also work out best for the nontraditional division within one university.

Harvard College is exclusive to early bloomers. The average student is 20 years old. Less than 1% are part-time. 98% live on campus where meals, cleaning, and maintenance are provided and all sorts of supports are steps away. A student with more than two years of college elsewhere is ineligible to transfer in to the College. The experience College students have in the world is almost always impressive, sometimes stellar… for their age. It's still inherently limited. There's more diversity of age and experience in the graduate schools. There's radically more in HES. It should be administered differently.

The merger did not go through, so TESU and Rutgers are still and always have been two separate institutions independently funded and accredited. TESU's budget does not come from Rutgers' budget. Harvard University is one university. Rutgers has its own online programs, and they don't make their online students wear a scarlet letter.