Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Proposed UConn budget could lead to more tuition hikes by 2020

  • Higher Education
  • by Keith M. Phaneuf
  • June 26, 2018
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

CT Mirror file photo

The University of Connecticut’s Storrs campus

With tuition and fees already slated to rise next fiscal year at the University of Connecticut, the Board of Trustees will consider a new budget Wednesday that could leave the flagship university facing additional hikes a year or two down the road.

The board, which will meet at the Peter J. Werth Residence Tower on the main Storrs campus, approved a schedule back in December 2015 that gradually increases tuition by 31 percent between the fall of 2016 and the spring of 2020.

And with state aid representing a shrinking share of UConn’s budget, university officials now are projecting significant deficits in the first two years after this new budget.

UConn

Thomas E. Kruger, chairman of the UConn Board of Trustees

“We are very much focused not just on the new budget, but on the out-years and the problems that those projected deficits present,” Thomas E. Kruger, chairman of the Board of Trustees, said Tuesday. “We know we have a lot of hard work to do and a lot of hard decisions to make and we will be focused on getting that done.”

University officials are recommending a $1.25 billion budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1 for the main campus in Storrs, as well as the regional campuses. That package does not include an additional $113.2 million research fund for the upcoming fiscal year.

Overall proposed spending is up about $35 million, or just under 3 percent, from the current fiscal year.

The growth largely is driven by a 28 percent increase in fringe benefit costs — most of which is fixed by contract. Nearly all segments of state government are struggling with this problem, which stems from more than seven decades of inadequate savings by legislatures and governors for pension and retirement healthcare programs.

Further complicating matters, university employees affected by the 2017 state employee concessions plan — which froze pay this fiscal year — are due for a flat, $2,000 increase under the new budget. This requirement adds $20 million to UConn’s expenses in the upcoming fiscal year, but the legislature authorized just $8.4 million in assistance to defray this cost.

Previously approved tuition and fee hikes offset some of these surging costs, but university officials are also recommending a wide array of spending cuts, about $14.4 million, spread across most segments of the budget.

But while these measures are enough to bring the proposed spending plan for 2018-19 into balance, UConn finances — unless adjusted — would run in the red in each of the following two fiscal years.

By 2019-20, the potential shortfall is nearly $29 million or 2.2 percent, and by 2020-21 it reaches $63 million, or 4.6 percent.

State support for UConn operations has eroded steadily in the last three decades. Though legislatures and governors over that period have increased financing for capital projects, the general policy also has been for the flagship university to replace lost state aid with tuition and fee revenues as the main campus and its branches add students.

Over the last nine years, state fiscal support for the main campus and UConn branches has grown just 3.6 percent in total, or by less than 4/10ths of 1 percent annually.

State block grants and additional payments to cover a portion of fringe benefit costs will provide 25 percent of the revenue needed to support the proposed UConn budget. Tuition and fees are the single-largest source for the main budget, providing 40 percent of the revenue. Research funding and revenue from various university enterprises generates another 26 percent.

The deficit projections for future years, according to the university administration’s budget proposal, mean an array of unpleasant deficit-mitigation options likely must be explored in the coming months. These include: 

  • Ordering additional tuition hikes.
  • Increasing enrollment, which would bolster tuition receipts but also expand class sizes.
  • Requiring more students to live on campus — and pay housing and meal plan fees — which may turn some students away.
  • Freezing staff hiring, which could affect class sizes and weaken revenue from research grants.
  • And restructuring departments to achieve savings, “which may lead to the loss of our best faculty and/or staff.”

In other business Wednesday, the trustees also will consider a 1.05 billion budget proposal for the upcoming fiscal year for the UConn Health Center. The Farmington-based center includes John Dempsey Hospital as well as the university’s medical and dental schools.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Keith M. Phaneuf A winner of numerous journalism awards, Keith Phaneuf has been CT Mirror’s state finances reporter since it launched in 2010. The former State Capitol bureau chief for The Journal Inquirer of Manchester, Keith has spent most of 31 years as a reporter specializing in state government finances, analyzing such topics as income tax equity, waste in government and the complex funding systems behind Connecticut’s transportation and social services networks. A former contributing writer to The New York Times, Keith is a graduate of and a former journalism instructor at the University of Connecticut.

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
CSCU students and faculty push back against contract proposals
by Adria Watson

Connecticut State Colleges and Universities faculty and students gathered outside of Central Connecticut State University Friday morning to protest the Board of Regents’ recent contract proposals, saying the changes could lead to larger class sizes and possibly losing accreditation. “The BOR must … understand their proposals are developed with union-busting in mind,” said Eastern Connecticut […]

House approves big municipal aid pledge, tax incentive bills
by Keith M. Phaneuf and Mark Pazniokas

The House approved bills Wednesday pledging $100 million-plus in new municipal aid and offering tax incentives to attract data centers.

CT legislature poised to make early budget pledge to help cities and towns
by Keith M. Phaneuf

The state House is expected to approve more than $100 million in new, annual PILOT grants to municipalities.

Report: Twice as many CT high schoolers are in danger of being held back
by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas

Research released Monday confirms what many parents and educators already suspected — more students than ever are falling behind during the pandemic, a problem especially present among those learning entirely from home in some of the state’s larger districts. The RISE Network tracked about 12,000 students in nine high schools in historically struggling districts to […]

Boston Fed chief predicts strong economic recovery begins in 2nd half of 2021 if vaccine reaches enough people
by Keith M. Phaneuf

A strong economic rebound also depends on states helping those hit hardest by COVID-19, a federal reserve official said.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Lamont’s new vaccination priorities are simple and smart
by Richard Davies

Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont’s new age-eligibility vaccine plan is simple, smart and straightforward. The more complicated the rules are, the greater the chance of screw-ups and of well-connected people getting their shots before they should. The governor is doing a good job.

Opinion Gas pipeline will threaten water quality, wildlife and wetlands
by Susan Eastwood

The Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection has granted tentative approval of the 401 water quality certification for the Pomfret to Killingly natural gas pipeline. I urge DEEP to deny the 401 certification, as the proposed pipeline would violate the Connecticut’s water quality standards, and the conditions in the draft certification fail to protect our streams, wetlands, and wildlife.

Opinion Connecticut and the other Connecticut. Which will endure?
by Ezra Kaprov

What comes to mind when you hear the word ‘Connecticut’? Possibly, you think of a 43-year-old Puerto Rican man who arrived here with his family following Hurricane Maria. He works full-time as a machinist at the Sikorsky plant, and he coaches a prizefighter on the side.

Opinion COVID-19 increases urgency for legislature to pass medical aid-in-dying law
by Dr. Gary Blick

The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the profound tragedy of loved ones dying alone, in a hospital or nursing home, without the care and comfort of loved ones surrounding them. This pandemic also demonstrates the fragility of life, the limits of modern medicine to relieve suffering, and has magnified the systemic racial disparities in our healthcare system, resulting in higher hospitalization and death rates for people in communities of color. We must eradicate these disparities, so everyone has equal access to the full range of end-of-life care options.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO