In 2004, NJ Transit opened the Montclair State University station, which links the university to New York City. The building of the MSU Station cost $26 million to complete, including a 1,500-space parking deck. In 2015, the university established the School of Communication and Media and added two new buildings to its campus; the Feliciano School of Business and the Center for Environmental and Life Sciences (CELS). Partridge Hall was fully renovated and in 2016, became the new School of Nursing, which welcomed its inaugural class of students that fall. In 2016, Montclair State University was designated by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). In 2017, Montclair State was designated a public research university by the New Jersey Legislature. The new state-of-the-art home for the School of Communication and Media opened in fall 2017, followed in 2018 by the opening of the Center for Computing and Information Science in the former Mallory Hall, which underwent a complete renovation and expansion. In 2016, the university's classification was changed from a Masters to a Doctoral Research University, and in 2019, was changed to R2: Doctoral University - High Research Activity.