The leader of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, the state’s largest public college system, told faculty and staff Wednesday that an $8.2 million funding cut in the adopted state budget means “fiscal challenges” for the system’s 17 institutions.
Higher Education
Posted inEducation
State expands eligibility of undocumented students for in-state tuition
Connecticut is set to become one of the most generous states in the U.S. when it comes to offering undocumented students in-state college tuition.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Connecticut college system on a ‘burning platform’
At many organizations, there comes a time when fundamental change is required because a “crossroads” of sorts has been reached. In business parlance this is sometimes referred to as the “burning platform.” CSCU has reached such a point in time where all stakeholders must come together and agree that “business as usual” is no longer an option.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
UConn is working for you, Connecticut
The University of Connecticut provides Connecticut’s knowledge infrastructure. As with our underfunded transportation infrastructure, failing to provide base adequacy funding now will not only have immediate harm but will produce cascading consequences. Deep cuts in the current biennial budget (and perhaps the next) will impair UConn for the next decade. To the taxpayers and General Assembly of Connecticut, I urge: Maintain UConn’s state funding.
Posted inMoney, Politics
House approves bill to restrict tax exemption for colleges, hospitals
The House of Representatives approved a measure early Friday that would end a portion of the municipal tax exemption long possessed by private, nonprofit colleges and hospitals.
Posted inEducation
CSCU regents respond to faculty discontent
Over the last several weeks, faculty at 11 of the 17 colleges and universities in the CSCU system have passed resolutions stating that they have lost confidence in Gregory Gray, the system’s president, and his plan for the future, called Transform CSCU 2020. Thursday members of the system’s governing board responded.
Posted inEducation
What cuts loom at each CSCU campus?
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. “We will not be the same institutions this September that we were last September,” says Connecticut State Colleges and Universities President Gregory Gray said. Find the planned cuts for each school.
Posted inEducation
Senate sets affirmative-consent standard for campus sex assaults
The Senate voted overwhelmingly late Tuesday to establish an affirmative-consent threshold in cases of sexual assault on all college and university campuses in Connecticut.
Posted inEducation
Legislators advance in-state tuition, financial aid for undocumented students
The state House of Representatives on Tuesday voted to expand the number of undocumented immigrants who qualify for much lower in-state tuition rates at Connecticut public colleges. Meanwhile, another bill that would make these students eligible to compete for a $140 million pool of financial aid was approved by the state Senate.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
On Connecticut’s campuses, administration is not a dirty word
During a budget crunch It’s easy to blame administrative bloat and the regional office for a college system’s ills, but can we afford independent college infrastructures or do we need a system or regional infrastructure to provide economies of scale? How important is local decision-making and in particular academic control? How do we maximize teaching resources when current funding is simply not sufficient to meet both student demand and overall organizational operating needs?
Posted inEducation
Unexplained exit of CSCU provost prompts ban on non-disparagement agreements
State senators have approved a bill forbidding state officials from demanding that employees sign non-disparagement agreements when leaving their state jobs — a move directed at the state’s largest public college system.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
Hey, CSCU Board of Regents: Enough is enough!
The Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education needs to take heed: Students at Manchester Community College and many other Connecticut State Colleges and Universities are livid at how their tuition has increased and critically important programs, many of which are required to graduate, are being cut.
Posted inCT Viewpoints
What if the embattled CSCU got another chance?
Some would argue that the CSCU system has already exhausted a first and second chance to overcome the mistakes it made since its formation four years ago. But what if the CSCU System was given a fresh start, with new leadership? Would its governing officials learn and not repeat the past mistakes?
Posted inEducation
Facing backlash, college reforms slowed; responsibility shifted
Updated May 6
The embattled leader of Connecticut State Colleges & Universities wrote Tuesday morning that he is slowing implementation of a controversial plan for the 17-school system’s future and will leave planning for it to individual school presidents.
Posted inEducation
Feds, investigating conflict of interest, freeze $4.6 million in UConn grants
A federal research agency has suspended $4.6 million in grants it awarded to the University of Connecticut while federal officials investigate the university’s use of grant money to buy equipment from a tech company owned by two UConn professors. State auditors charged that the public university failed to notify their office of the investigation, as state law requires.