Dive Summary:
- Connecticut's recent $14 million budget cut and looming $1 billion budget gap could result in a tuition and fee increase as high as 12.4% for state university and community colleges.
- According to Connecticut Board of Regents for Higher Education Chairman Lewis J. Robinson Jr., a deficit that large may result in the schools being asked to give up more funding, though it should be noted that discussions of any sort of increase are preliminary at this point and any increase could be as low as a few percentage points.
- State Sen. Beth Bye, co-chairwoman of the legislature's higher education committee, says that Connecticut's colleges and universities are already suffering because of nearly 16% in cuts made during the last two school years, and that schools can price themselves out of the market with significant tuition increases.
From the article:
State budget cuts and declining or stagnating enrollment in the state university and community colleges could mean a tuition and fee increase that could be as high as 12 percent under one scenario. Lewis J. Robinson Jr., chairman of the state's Board of Regents for Higher Education, said the recent $14.4 million budget cut and a looming state budget gap of more than $1 billion made discussion of fee increases for the fall semester necessary. "It would only make sense in terms of our fiduciary duty … that we would be thinking about various scenarios," he said. ...