Princeton’s Undergraduate Student Government senate voted at a Sunday meeting to expand its student travel program, making NJ Transit tickets to New York City and Trenton completely free for students while doubling the overall ticket inventory.
Free Transit and Budget Realities
The funding resolution, sponsored by USG Treasurer Marvel Jem Roth and managed by U-Council Chair Isaac Barsoum, effectively eliminates the previous $10 cost per ticket. USG will now offer 400 free round-trip tickets to New York City and 200 to Trenton, a notable increase from the 187 paid tickets distributed last year.
Treasurer Roth urged the senate to allocate the remaining semester funds, noting that the legislative body faced a projected surplus of approximately $109,000. “After processing contingencies, we are radically going to be underspending on student activity fees this semester,” Roth said at the meeting, according to the Daily Princetonian. “This is failing the student body.”
The previous iteration of the transit program launched to immense student demand, with participants claiming all available inventory in mere seconds. Under the newly approved expansion, the program absorbs the full ticket cost.
Senate Reviews Transition Survey Findings for Incoming Students
Beyond transit funding, the senate reviewed data from a comprehensive transition survey issued to 1,007 students in the Class of 2028 and Class of 2029. USG Academics Committee Chair Isaac Bernstein and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee Chair Morgan Hoang presented the findings.
“We have five findings that kind of stand out, and also a lot of these center around transparency and awareness in terms of promoting equitable resources and having students feel like they can access those,” Bernstein told the senate, as reported by the Daily Princetonian.
The survey revealed that public-school graduates reported feeling twice as high a sense of unpreparedness for the university’s rigorous workload and academic pace compared to their peers. Furthermore, 40 to 60 percent of respondents described themselves as only slightly prepared or entirely unequipped for introductory STEM courses in mathematics, computer science, and physics.
“A lot of students just didn’t feel, coming in from high school, that they’re ready to tackle the workload and also the course preparedness,” Hoang said, according to the Daily Princetonian.
University Introduces Updated Campus Sustainability Framework
Sarah Boll, the university’s executive director of sustainability, presented the newly launched Campus Sustainability Framework during the meeting. The updated plan outlines eight primary focus areas, adding climate disruption planning and healthy community support as new strategic pillars.
“We would continue to perhaps rethink strategies in another five to seven years, because in reality, some of the things that we thought were true in 2019, particularly around the power grid was going to decarbonize … and also the projections for campus growth have changed,” Boll told the senate, as reported by the Daily Princetonian.
The senate also approved funding for other student events, including the annual Chinese Students Association ‘Ducksgiving’ dinner scheduled for Dec. 5, 2026, from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. Lawmakers also held the first of two required votes to update the internal meeting attendance policy.
The next public USG meeting is scheduled for Sunday, Nov. 15, 2026, in Robertson 016.
