New Brunswick Center

Guided by the motto “Educate to Elevate,” the New Brunswick Center opened in April of 1980 and provides educational opportunities to meet the needs of the community. The Center was established through the efforts of New Brunswick Tomorrow, the city’s redevelopment organization, aided by an advisory committee comprised of representatives of government, business, and industry and community groups. The New Brunswick Center is located at 140 New Street, corner of New Street and Joyce Kilmer Avenue and within walking distance of the New Brunswick train station, bus stop and a bustling downtown art/cultural center. Registered students with a car are encouraged to purchase the reduced student parking card which gives them access to the New Street parking deck seven days a week for the entire semester. Key members of the New Brunswick Center are bilingual in English/Spanish to better serve the community.

This satellite location offers over sixty college courses per semester including various levels of English writing, Spanish, business, public speaking, criminal justice, sociology, psychology, biology, business, allied health, mathematics, computer science and history. Courses are scheduled throughout the day, evenings and Saturdays. The staff is trained to support all phases of the enrollment process. Students and visitors are able to take the ESL (English as Second Language) and college placement test, apply for financial aid (FAFSA) or the Alternative Financial Aid application, and access advisors and a personal counselor on site. The Center offers free tutoring services to students and library support online. Students can use the open computer lab during hours of operation. The New Brunswick Center club offers a wide range of fun, cultural and educational activities for students throughout the semester.

In response to the high number of first generation college students in the New Brunswick area with a need for tutoring and mentoring, programs for college-bound teens were created over the years. Introduced in 2009, the E.M.P.O.W.E.R. Program is the longest running of these programs. This college preparation program provides much needed guidance and support to teens who want to attend college and whose resources are limited. These teens receive directed tutoring, attend student success workshops including time management and note taking, participate in team building experiences, receive assistance in filing for financial aid including scholarships, and may be given the opportunity to take a college class while in high school. The Center partners with Rutgers, the Collaborative for Community Based Research and Service and the Middlesex College Office of Civic Engagement and Community Partnerships to serve this population.

The New Brunswick Center serves the diverse needs of this community by providing adults with options to take non-credit courses such as English as Second Language classes including American English Pronunciation, Conversational English, and Word Building. Recently, non-credit courses in allied health and Excel were added with working professionals in mind.

Since 2005 and in support of the local community, the location became certified by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as an official Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) site. VITA certified volunteers offer the general public free tax filing assistance. This is a popular service for students, staff and the community at large.

For more information about the services or programs offered at the New Brunswick Center, please call 732.745.8866, check out the New Brunswick Center web page at www.middlesexcc.edu or e-mail infonb@middlesexcc.edu.