Connecticut, like many of its New England neighbors, is rich with colleges and universities. Some of these institutions are so prestigious that they attract students from all across the globe who come to Connecticut for an education, only to take their enhanced knowledge and skills elsewhere after they earn their degrees.
Meanwhile, students from Connecticut who want to contribute to their local communities and who want to make their new careers near friends and family fill the classrooms, laboratories and studios of our public institutions of higher education — especially the community colleges and state universities that make up our Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) system.
Adequately funding these public colleges and universities, then, creates what might be termed a ‘virtuous cycle’ whereby public funds are directed to the very institutions that prepare our own state residents to fill important local jobs and resolve the important challenges that we face right here in Connecticut.
Unfortunately, state government has sometimes succumbed to the temptation to off-load more and more of the cost of public higher education onto the backs of the students themselves. As an increasing number of first-generation students, students from urban high schools, students of color, and immigrant students choose to attend our CSCU schools, we need to recognize the state universities for what they are: precious institutions that provide the kind of high quality education that closes equity gaps. And we need to fund them accordingly.
Over the last decade, Connecticut’s financial support for our community colleges and regional state universities has not only failed to keep up with inflation, it has also decreased in real terms compared with the level of support Connecticut has provided in previous generations. As a result, the tuition that students pay to attend the CSCUs has steadily risen, while the programs and services available to them and their community college peers has been held together by a faculty and staff who are now stretched to their limits. The current budget for the CSCU systems is projected to fall far short of what is needed to continue effectively supporting the aspirations of our own state students.
However, this trend can be reversed. During the last legislative session, the General Assembly took steps to address long-standing inequities in how Connecticut has funded its K-12 public education system. Now, we must expand those early investments in K-12 to the CSCU system to realize the higher education aspirations of those students who have come from, or who are now enrolled in, our K-12 system.
There is much at stake. In addition to preparing large numbers of engineers, businesspeople and computer scientists, the Connecticut state universities prepare the majority of Connecticut’s classroom teachers, special educators, social workers, counselors, and nurses — all essential professions that pay well and are in great demand.
In the upcoming 2024 legislative session, Connecticut must match our stated support for the CSCUs with the sustained financial support that these institutions actually need in order to continue doing the crucial work of transforming individual students’ lives and advancing Connecticut’s economic prosperity and livability. As we work to nurture Connecticut’s children and teens in grades K-12, let’s also remember to dedicate ourselves to increasing the number of people who are able to take advantage of an affordable, properly funded, and effective community college and state university system.
Martin Looney is President Pro Tempore of the Connecticut State Senate.