New Jersey's Kean University sparked a lot of controversy among taxpayers and students when the school purchased a custom-made conference table from a company in China for $219,000.

While students are reportedly struggling to pay off their $44,000 tuition fees for their four-year stint, Kean University was willing to spend up to $270,000 on a single conference table. It's said to be a custom-made circular table made of oak that can comfortably seat up to 23 people and includes features such as computer ports, microphones, and a lit up map of the world.

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The heavy price tag is about the equivalent to the average price of a house in the area, and is 10 times the amount spent by other schools for similar tables, according to a report by NorthJersey.

Instead of purchasing the table through means of competitive bidding that's usually required for New Jersey colleges, Kean University instead went through a Chinese company in Shanghai to custom-build the conference table and clearly overpaid in an effort to help its own agenda.

Kean University recently expanded and now provides a new branch campus in China, and the move to overpay for the conference table is speculated to have something to do with strengthening its ties with Chinese Government, NorthJersey reports.

"Whether or not this is legal, it's certainly not ethical and it's a waste of taxpayer money," Assemblyman Joe Cryan said. "I don't need a study to know a university shouldn't be spending up to $219,000 for a conference table. I already know it's wrong. So do the students and families struggling to afford a higher education."

However, according to a response from Kean, the university wasn't required to make bids and was legally able to purchase the furniture from a company in China, as the furniture reportedly was classified as "professional creative services."

The University's spokeswoman Marsh McCarthy says the school participates in a number of meetings with "top-notch CEOs" and the conference table will only benefit students looking to gain internships with their companies. "It's important for us to have them meet in a high-profile space," McCarthy added.

TagsKean University, New Jersey, taxpayers, Conference table, school spending