Essex County College

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
221821292
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Newark, NJ, USA
Phone
9738774462
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Undergraduate College (4-year)

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$106,013,003
Expenses
$103,723,069
Assets
$230,712,991
Liabilities
$61,553,916

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

20 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DR AUGUSTINE BOAKYE (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JEFF SHAPIRO (DIRECTOR OF FACILITIES): $314,822 total reported compensation
  • DR AUGUSTINE BOAKYE (PRESIDENT): $309,468 total reported compensation
  • MOHAMED SEDDIKI (EXECUTIVE DEAN/CIO): $307,429 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Essex County College provides accessible, affordable, and high-quality educational opportunities to a diverse community of learners, fostering academic excellence, workforce development, and lifelong learning.

What it reported doing in 2024

Instruction - the college believes in creating a learning environment that fosters high expectations for achievement. The college is committed to rigorous academic standards, faculty excellence, and responsive support services that enable students to reach their full academic, professional and personal potential. The college provides excellent programs that utilize technology, demonstrate innovation, and undergo evaluation to ensure consistent and outstanding performance. The college offers a wide range of associate degree programs, academic certificate programs, and certificates of completion. During fiscal year 2025, the college offered 69 degrees and certifications, which included 398 courses. The number of students who attended during fiscal year 2025 equated to 9,715 (4,020 full time students and 5,692 part-time students) which included 8,244 degree-seeking students and 1,468 non-matriculated students. Academic support - for over 45 years, the college has been educating and enriching the lives of our students. Our academic programs consider the needs of our local community, but our quality attracts applicants from all over the world. During fiscal year 2025, the college had 87 full time faculty devoted to the academic programs. Public service - in a typical year, the college's community continuing education, and workforce development programs serve even more students than their traditional degree programs. That's because their educational offerings are diverse and geared to all different types of people from all walks of life. The college partners with their community, local businesses and organizations to provide classes geared towards providing practical real-world skills that can be put to use immediately. Youth programs, high school initiatives workforce development, and adult literacy courses are among the dozens of educational programs the college offers throughout the year. During fiscal year 2025, the college had 3,671 non-credit enrollment, 169 students in customized training, and 90 total faculty designated to continuing education.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 63% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 53% for direct work, and 47% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Revenue has declined or grown slowly and expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 60
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.4%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 68.5%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 2.2%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.22; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.5%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 67.4% of revenue deployed · 68.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $71M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $315K · 20 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.5M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 9 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 11 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 43/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 47/100.