Office of The General Counsel
  • Serving the County of Essex with campuses in Newark and West Caldwell, NJ, the College enrolls approximately 9,000 students annually seeking to earn an associate’s degree or academic certificate.  An additional 2,000 students also enroll in non-credit, continuing education programs.
  • Roughly half of the students who are pursuing a degree or academic certificate attend full-time, yielding an annual full-time equivalency of nearly 5,000 degree-seeking students each fall semester. 
  • The College’s student body has a median age of 21 years and is comprised of nearly 60% female.
  • ECC is the only community college in the State of New Jersey bearing designations as both a Predominantly Black Institution (PBI) and a Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI).
  • Using the Federal Title III and Title V definitions, over 90% of the College’s students are minorities. The largest racial and ethnic populations among students are African American (47%) and Hispanic (27%). Adding to the College’s rich diversity, it annually serves nearly 100 international students, representing over 30 countries.  
  • The College predominantly serves students who reside in the County of Essex (92%), with a large portion of those residing in the city of Newark (47%). Newark is Essex County’s largest municipality, both in terms of land area (24.2 square miles) and population (307,220) and accounts for roughly a third of the County’s total population (854,917).
  • Newark has a median household income of just $41,335 and a per capita income of $22,194 while also having the highest cost of living to income gap among the 18 municipalities that are home to New Jersey’s community colleges. Roughly 76% of financial aid applicants receive need-based aid in the form of a Pell Grant and those financial aid applicants have a median household income of only $24,443. 
  • These economic disparities dramatically impact the student learning experience. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic, Essex County College participated in the #RealCollege Survey administered by the Hope Center for College, Community, and Justice, at Temple University. According to this study administered prior to the pandemic, 59% of students at ECC experienced food insecurity in the previous 30-day period. This figure is 20% higher than both the State and National averages for the community college sector. In alignment with its mission, the College is actively engaged in addressing these social inequities. 
  • In addition to food insecurity, the majority of ECC students experience unstable living conditions, with 61% reporting housing insecurity in the previous year, a figure 16% higher than both the State and National averages for the sector, with 16% experiencing homelessness in the prior year. An analysis of these three metrics shows that 75% of students are affected by at least one of these economic barriers (food insecurity, housing insecurity, and homelessness).  

Source: Essex County College Supplemental Information Report, December 2023