The state’s community colleges and regional Connecticut state universities plan to shed dozens of teachers, tutors and other staff to close the $34.5 million deficit they are anticipating for the next fiscal year.

On TrendCT: The number of professors has shrunk at CCSU schools — but the number of students has shrunk even further.
On TrendCT: The number of professors has shrunk at CCSU schools — but the number of students has shrunk even further. See the story here >>

“We will not be the same institutions this September that we were last September,” Connecticut State Colleges and Universities President Gregory Gray said last week. “The academic integrity of these institutions is going to be in question.”

At Northwestern Community College, officials say the cuts mean students might not be able to get courses they need to graduate.

At Eastern Connecticut State University, students with psychological needs will have to wait longer to see a counselor.

And many of the community colleges that are currently open on Saturdays will close their doors.

Leaders from each college shared their proposed budgets last week with the Finance Committee for the Board of Regents, the governing board for the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system, which includes the four regional state universities and 12 community colleges.

The budget proposals were based on cuts to the CSCU system the governor proposed in his budget. If funding is restored when legislators adopt a final budget, the school budgets may be adjusted but many cuts will remain until college leaders see whether enrollment declines.

Here are details of each college and university’s budget proposal:

Jacqueline was CT Mirror’s Education and Housing Reporter, and an original member of the CT Mirror staff, joining shortly before our January 2010 launch. Her awards include the best-of-show Theodore A. Driscoll Investigative Award from the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists in 2019 for reporting on inadequate inmate health care, first-place for investigative reporting from the New England Newspaper and Press Association in 2020 for reporting on housing segregation, and two first-place awards from the National Education Writers Association in 2012. She was selected for a prestigious, year-long Propublica Local Reporting Network grant in 2019, exploring a range of affordable and low-income housing issues. Before joining CT Mirror, Jacqueline was a reporter, online editor and website developer for The Washington Post Co.’s Maryland newspaper chains. Jacqueline received an undergraduate degree in journalism from Bowling Green State University and a master’s in public policy from Trinity College.

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