Malloy’s plans for higher education financing ‘a nonstarter’

The chairwoman of the legislature’s higher education committee said Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s plan for higher education is likely to face a roadblock in the legislature.

Gov. Dannel P. Malloy’s proposed budget sheds the state’s responsibility to cover the actual costs of providing the medical, retirement and other fringe benefits for thousands of college and university employees. Instead, the state budget would send a lump sum payment to officials at the Connecticut State Universities, the University of Connecticut, community colleges and online Charter Oak State College.

“If it doesn’t hold their budget’s harmless, then it is a non starter,” Sen. Beth Bye, D-West Hartford, said during an interview Friday.

The proposal, college officials say, has the potential to create a huge deficit in their budgets.

The Higher Education Committee has scheduled a public hearing on the governor’s proposed changes to higher education next Thursday.