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A private university in Mercer County will lay off up to 40 full-time faculty members, slash salaries by 14% and make other cuts due to escalating financial problems, campus officials said. Rider University is making “urgent and severe choices” after it was place on probation by its accreditor, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, Rider President John R. Loyack said Monday. The 4,000-student school will continue to offer classes while on probation and try to limit the impact of the cuts on students, the president said. “I must stress that the administration continues to be intentional about doing everything possible to minimize the impacts of a potential restructuring on our students. We intend to ensure that every student can take the classes they need to complete their intended major and earn their degree as they have planned,” Loyack wrote in a post addressed to the campus community. Between 35 and 40 full-time faculty members will lose their jobs effective Dec. 31, Loyack said. Several senior administrators will also lose their jobs. The layoffs will reduce the total number of full-time faculty members by 25%, according to the Rider News, the student newspaper. Those who are not laid off will be given additional work. Salaries for all employees will be reduced by 14% and the university will suspend retirement contributions starting Dec. 1, Loyack said. Rider’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, which represents faculty members, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Rider currently has a 13-to-1 student-faculty ratio, the university says on its website. Rider also will end faculty tuition remission — a benefit common in higher education in which tuition is waived or reduced for employees and their spouses or dependents — starting with the 2026-27 academic year, Loyack said. The president said the reductions are in keeping with the university’s "March to Sustainability Plan" that was unanimously approved by the Rider Board of Trustees. “Having analyzed Rider’s situation from every angle, we are confident that a promising future is possible, only if these steps are taken,” Loyack said. “All of us involved are aware that this moment brings pain, frustration, fear and uncertainty. We profoundly wish the financial situation were otherwise. We also know that the time has come to make the difficult choices required to secure the very future of the University and the students we serve,” Loyack said. Rider’s annual tuition and fees are $43,515 for the 2025-26 academic year, not including room and board. The university was founded in 1865 as the Trenton Business College.
