June 29, 2012 | Michael Kirk

Board Approves Fiscal Year 2013 Budget

The budget approved by the Board of Trustees includes funding for the faculty hiring initiative.

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At its June 28 meeting, the Board of Trustees approved a $1.05 billion budget for the Storrs and regional campuses and an $825 million budget for the UConn Health Center.

The University budget includes funding for several key initiatives including:

  • Faculty hiring. Over the next four years, our goal is to hire approximately 290 new tenure-track faculty members to help transform the University by generating more research that has national and international impact, increasing research productivity, building graduate programs, providing high-quality teaching and service to undergraduate students and expanding course availability. The goal is to hire 65 new faculty for this fall and 90 new faculty for the fall of 2013. This effort – which is unique in U.S. higher education in terms of magnitude – was made possible in large part thanks to the four-year tuition plan the board passed in December 2011; every net dollar of revenue generated by tuition increases over this period are being dedicated to faculty hiring.
  • Financial Aid. Increases in tuition are matched by increases in the amount the University devotes to financial aid to our neediest students. About 86% of UConn students received financial aid in 2011 – including loans, grants, scholarships and student employment – that was both need-based and merit-based. This year, nearly 20 cents of every net tuition dollar will go to need-based financial aid for UConn students.
  • Economic Development. UConn’s role in helping to drive Connecticut’s economic development cannot be overstated. We continue to marshal the necessary resources to ensure that the University is doing all it can to create jobs and cultivate the state’s economic future though the remarkable Bioscience Connecticut/Jackson Labs initiative as well as the Tech Park to be located in Storrs.

The Health Center’s operating budget for fiscal year 2013 includes funds to recruit clinical and research faculty.  The legislature included in its block grant $500,000 to support recruitment of research faculty.  The clinical operations of UCHC is budgeting an 11% increase in physician revenues resulting from this recruitment effort.  In addition, the operating and capital budgets include amounts necessary to support the implementation of Bioscience Connecticut.

Due to limited hiring and other efficiencies, the University is ending fiscal year 2012 with a surplus of $4.5 million.