New Jersey
Source: IPEDS Completions, 3-yr avg AY 2022–25 (NCES; 2024–25 provisional), bachelor’s degrees, CIP 14 + 11; China 33.2%: PRC Ministry of Education, 2022 bachelor’s graduates by discipline (NSF NCSES S&E Indicators Fig. HED-30: 32.8%, 2020); Population: Census NST-EST2025.
New Jersey at China’s rate would graduate 13,881 engineers a year. It graduates 6,082.
New Jersey produces 6,082 engineering and computer science bachelor's degrees a year out of 41,809 total, one of America's strongest engineering producers, from 28 institutions. At China's rate it would produce 13,881. Output is growing (+4.1% over three years). Gap Score: 44% of the China benchmark. Its own economy is projected to open 12,010 engineering, computing and technician jobs a year through 2034; in-state degrees, associate and bachelor's together, cover 60% of them.
The gap against China’s benchmark
Three-year trend: eng+CS share of degrees
New Jersey is missing 7,798 engineers a year at China's rate, roughly 4x the annual output of Rutgers University-New Brunswick.
Where New Jersey’s engineers are made.
28 institutions produce engineering or computer science bachelor’s degrees in New Jersey. The top 8 account for 88% of output.
Every producing institution. Circle area = eng+CS bachelor’s degrees per year
Top producers
| # | Institution | Eng+CS / yr | % of its degrees |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Rutgers University-New Brunswick | 2,033 | 23.6% |
| 2 | New Jersey Institute of Technology | 1,152 | 64.6% |
| 3 | Stevens Institute of Technology | 653 | 67.9% |
| 4 | Rowan University | 640 | 15.4% |
| 5 | Princeton University | 429 | 32.6% |
| 6 | The College of New Jersey | 159 | 9.7% |
| 7 | Montclair State University | 147 | 3.9% |
| 8 | Kean University | 130 | 5.4% |
Jobs vs. degrees
New Jersey's own labor-market projection, 2024–2034, for engineers, computer occupations and engineering technicians, against the degrees the state produces at every level.
Openings against output
Where the openings are
| Occupation | Openings / yr |
|---|---|
| Software Developers | 3,400 |
| Computer User Support Specialists | 1,070 |
| Computer Systems Analysts | 1,060 |
| Computer Occupations, All Other | 830 |
| Industrial Engineers | 450 |
| Civil Engineers | 440 |
Coverage: degrees ÷ openings
Openings are the state labor agency’s own 10-year projection: new jobs plus replacing workers who retire or leave the field (BLS method). Not every opening goes to a new graduate, so this is a coverage measure; it does not count vacant positions. Occupations: engineers (SOC 17-2), computer occupations (SOC 15-12) and engineering technicians (SOC 17-3, the associate-degree tier), the jobs CIP 14 + 11 degrees feed; degrees here include associate degrees to match. Source: New Jersey labor-market projections via Projections Central (U.S. Dept. of Labor).
New Jersey backed AI and offshore wind, then pulled back
Trenton spent 2024-2026 adding a $500M AI tax-credit program, a $72M Princeton AI Hub and a purpose-built wind port on top of Aspire mega-credits, then paused or repealed the AI credit and put the wind port under review as power bills spiked. Each of these programs assumes engineers the state does not keep.
The drain.
New Jersey exports more college freshmen than any state and gets few back; students leave at 18, before they start an engineering degree in state.
Sources: NCES Digest of Education Statistics 2023; Rutgers Heldrich Center for Workforce Development / NJ Statewide Data System (2024)
Who’s covering it.
Reporters already cover this, but no one has combined it into a single number the way the Index does.
The fix, in New Jersey.
Require Next NJ credits to fund engineering seats
The Next NJ AI credit already required a 'collaborative relationship' with a NJ university; the successor Sherrill and the Legislature write should require it. Any data center or Aspire mega-award over $50M should fund Digital ROTC service-for-tuition seats at NJIT, Rutgers and Rowan, with graduates owing service years in New Jersey.
Put ROTC seats in 18 community colleges
The AI Hub's AI Ready NJ program is already wiring the community colleges for AI. Add a service-for-tuition track: two years free at a county college plus a guaranteed transfer into an in-state engineering program in exchange for a service commitment, which addresses the 43% vs 65% retention gap head on.
Keep New Jersey freshmen in state
New Jersey's losses start at 18, with a net loss of nearly 26,000 freshmen a year. Rather than trimming tuition grants to close the deficit, tie state aid to a Digital ROTC pledge that keeps NJ students in NJ engineering programs and returns them to the CoreWeave, Bell Labs and pharma employers the state is already paying to host.
What Digital ROTC would fund
Digital ROTC: federal student loans that cover two years of engineering, computer science, or cybersecurity school at a community college, whether those years end in an associate degree or transfer into a bachelor’s program. The loans are forgiven in full after 24 to 36 months of service in government technology roles. In New Jersey, 15% of engineering-track credentials are associate degrees today. Digital ROTC is built to expand that community-college route.