Andrés Acebo had his contract as interim president at New Jersey City University extended for 18 months by the NJCU Board of Trustees Monday night.

The extension will begin on Jan. 1, taking Acebo through June 30, 2026 – at a minimum. There is a provision for an additional one-year extension at that time.

Financial terms of the extension were not announced. His original two-year contract was scheduled to end in the middle of January of 2025.

Acebo has done an incredible job since being named interim president in January of 2023 in the middle of a financial crisis that was threatening to shut down the school. (He was named No. 1 on the ROI-NJ: Influencers list for higher education in 2024.)

Working with the school’s leadership, faculty and many union partners, he has helped NJCU survive and thrive while creating the school’s Recovery and Revitalization Plan (April 2023), its first Strategic Enrollment Plan (April 2023) and its first Academic Master Plan (February 2024) — as well as introduce a brand refresh that produced the school’s first mission statement.

The school now has a balanced budget less than two years after declaring a financial emergency, helping it get its outlook by Moody’s upgraded from “negative” to “stable.”

NJCU is not out of the financial woods yet, however. Talks on how to strengthen the school continue. Monday night only assured that Acebo will be one of the leaders in those talks.