NEW YORK, NY (April 10, 2026) — Moody’s Ratings (Moody’s) has upgraded New Jersey City University’s issuer and revenue bond ratings to Baa3 from Ba2 and placed the ratings under review for further upgrade. The outlook was previously positive. The university had $205 million of debt outstanding as of June 30, 2025.
The upgrade of the issuer and revenue bond ratings to Baa3 and placement of the ratings under review for upgrade reflects the continued progress towards New Jersey City University’s (NJCU) merger into Kean University, including a signed legislative commitment to the merger from the State of New Jersey as well as ongoing financial rightsizing at NJCU including reducing outstanding debt and stabilizing liquidity. The merger is targeted to close on July 1, 2026 following the receipt of final accreditation and U.S. Department of Education approvals.
RATINGS RATIONALE
The Baa3 rating reflects NJCU’s established role as a regional provider of higher education and Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) that should continue as the university merges into Kean University (A2 stable) and will operate as Kean Jersey City following the merger completion. NJCU’s leadership continues to execute on strategic plans to improve the financial position of the university by reducing outstanding debt, improving operating performance, and stabilizing liquidity.
As of June 30, 2025, the university reduced debt by nearly $35 million from fiscal 2024, generated a roughly 10% EBIDA margin (when factoring in cash used to defease debt early), and maintained roughly 54 monthly days cash on hand. State stabilization funds totaling $17 million across fiscal 2024 and 2025, additional state funds committed to address the campus’ deferred maintenance, along with oversight from a state-appointed fiscal monitor, further support credit quality.
The review period will focus on following the progress of final accrediting and government approvals to complete the merger. Under the terms of the merger agreement and the Kean University-New Jersey City University Merger Act, all debts of New Jersey City University shall be transferred to Kean University and the review period will also focus on the structure, which could include refinancing, restructuring, or amending, of NJCU’s existing debt obligations within the merged university.
“This action reflects the meaningful progress our university has made through disciplined financial management, operational and academic restructuring, debt reduction, stabilized liquidity, and continued advancement toward our strategic merger with Kean University. Taken together with Fitch Ratings’s positive rating action this past fall, it marks a sustained turnaround and reinforces external confidence in our campus’s long-term mission,” declared Andrés Acebo, president of New Jersey City University.
“I’m deeply grateful to and profoundly proud of our leadership team, colleagues, and the entire campus community, whose tireless commitment has helped secure the promise of this institution for generations to come,” said Acebo.
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO AN UPGRADE OF THE RATINGS
— Successful merger of NJCU’s campus into Kean University, benefitting from the combined Kean’s stronger financial resources and student market
— Material strengthening of liquidity
— Substantial and sustained improvement in operating performance
FACTORS THAT COULD LEAD TO A DOWNGRADE OF THE RATINGS
— Inability to complete or significant disruption in the merger into Kean University
— Material deterioration of NJCU’s liquidity, beyond the funds utilized for voluntary separation and severance payments
PROFILE
New Jersey City University is a four-year, undergraduate and graduate public university with several sites in Jersey City, NJ in close proximity to New York City. NJCU also operates the A. Harry Moore School, a state-funded school for children with disabilities. For fiscal 2025, NJCU’s operating revenue was approximately $151 million and in fall 2025, enrolled 4,485 full-time equivalent (FTE) students.
New Jersey City University and Kean University signed a non-binding Letter of Intent (LOI) outlining a proposed merger, and a definitive merger agreement in October 2025. In January 2026, the Governor of New Jersey signed legislation advancing the merger, providing legislative authority to Kean to expand its mission to accommodate the operations and mission of NJCU’s campus, and provided additional state funding support to assist in the transition process. The merger is expected to be completed by July 1, 2026.
METHODOLOGY
The principal methodology used in these ratings was Higher Education published in July 2024 and available at https://ratings.moodys.com/rmc-documents/425580. Alternatively, please see the Rating Methodologies page on https://ratings.moodys.com for a copy of this methodology.
REGULATORY DISCLOSURES
For further specification of Moody’s key rating assumptions and sensitivity analysis, see the sections Methodology Assumptions and Sensitivity to Assumptions in the disclosure form. Moody’s Rating Symbols and Definitions can be found on https://ratings.moodys.com/rating-definitions.
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For ratings issued on a program, series, category/class of debt or security, certain regulatory disclosures applicable to each rating of a subsequently issued bond or note of the same series, category/class of debt, or security, or pursuant to a program for which the ratings are derived exclusively from existing ratings, in accordance with Moody’s rating practices, can be found in the most recent Credit Rating Announcement related to the same class of Credit Rating.
For provisional ratings, the Credit Rating Announcement provides certain regulatory disclosures in relation to the provisional rating assigned, and in relation to a definitive rating that may be assigned subsequent to the final issuance of the debt, in each case where the transaction structure and terms have not changed prior to the assignment of the definitive rating in a manner that would have affected the rating.
Moody’s does not always publish a separate Credit Rating Announcement for each Credit Rating assigned in the Anticipated Ratings Process or Subsequent Ratings Process.
Regulatory disclosures contained in this press release apply to the credit rating and, if applicable, the related rating outlook or rating review.
Please see https://ratings.moodys.com for any updates on changes to the lead rating analyst and to the Moody’s legal entity that has issued the rating.
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