New Jersey regulators cleared a planned merger that will fold New Jersey City University into Kean University, creating a metropolitan campus model and setting a July 1 target for completion pending accreditor and federal reviews. Officials framed the consolidation as “pivotal” for students across New Jersey and said it will create a Kean Jersey City campus serving the region’s needs. Separately, Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission advanced policy recommendations that would impose regular academic program audits and make merger or consolidation a tool to stabilize finances across the state’s seven public universities. The proposal comes as Oregon campuses face structural shortfalls and a shrinking student pool. Both developments underscore that state actors are increasingly steering structural consolidations as a response to financial stress and changing enrollment patterns in public higher education.