Public universities may soon be required to inform state legislators before they approve tuition increases under terms of a bill overwhelmingly voted out of committee Tuesday.
“It’s appropriate for us to have this information,” said Sen. Mary Ann Handley of Manchester, co-chairman of the Higher Education and Employment Advancement Committee, before the vote.
The proposal comes less than a month after the board of trustees approved a 5.9 percent increase in tuition, room, board and other fees — or $1,180 extra. The four regional campuses of the Connecticut State University system will see a cost increase of 5.6 percent, or $950.
The bill, which received at 14-6 vote by the committee, would not require committee approval of proposed tuition increases, but only that lawmakers be given “reasonable” notice.
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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