UConn is adjusting some fees to help cover the increasing costs of providing specific services, while also reducing other fees and adopting new programs to help students with the costs of class materials and access to overseas study programs.
The Board of Trustees on Wednesday adopted the plan, which its Financial Affairs Committee had endorsed on Tuesday and which also was presented in detail at two online Town Hall discussions on April 19.
UConn’s guiding principles when setting fees are to protect affordability to increasing them only when absolutely necessary to cover increased costs; to promote simplicity and transparency so the fees can be easily understood; and to use the revenue to help ensure financial stability and quality of the programming it funds.
Over the past five years, UConn’s fee-funded expenses have grown by 18%, while the fees paid by students to support them have increased by only 3.8%. Some of the expenses have been exacerbated by pandemic-related supply chain issues, particularly in dining and infrastructure materials costs.
The newly approved plan includes a $268 increase for Storrs-based mandatory fees that pay for services ranging from health services to student activities and transit, and a $364 increase in housing and dining rates.
The changes go into effect with the new fiscal year starting July 1 and do not affect the five-year tuition plan adopted in 2019 for fiscal years 2021-25.
The plan also includes two new initiatives to increase students’ ability to participate in Experiential Global Learning (EGL), also known as Education Abroad; and an optional program in which students can pay a flat fee that covers all textbooks and course materials for the semester.
In the first program, effective spring 2023, Education Abroad will move from a fee-based program to a tuition-based model, which will allow students to apply their financial aid and university scholarships toward the cost of participating. Under the current approach, students pay an out-of-pocket fee to study abroad, which can limit access for those with fiscal constraints.
Lloyd Blanchard, UConn’s interim vice president for finance and chief financial officer, said during one of last week’s town hall presentations that the change is expected to open opportunities for many more students who could not afford fees, but receive financial aid that could cover the costs.
“We want all of our students, regardless of ability to pay, to be able to participate in such programs,” he said. “It’s very much in keeping with our mission at UConn to provide a cutting-edge education and opportunities for all of our students regardless of their financial circumstances.”
In the second new initiative, known as Barnes & Noble First-Day Complete Program, also effective in spring 2023, full-time undergraduate students will pay a $285-per-semester fee that guarantees them the textbooks and course materials for all of their registered courses, even if the actual cost would have been higher.
The program is optional; students can waive participation and not be charged if they want to buy or rent the materials on their own.
“We know that sometimes students don’t buy all of their materials and books because of the expense,” Blanchard said in the town hall. “Making this flat fee available to all students positions them to have their materials on the very first day of the semester, immediately and without effort, and to be ready to learn.”
The University will be compiling a list of frequently asked questions and providing more specifics in the fall semester before the program goes into effect in spring 2023.
Even accounting for the fee adjustments approved Wednesday, reviews consistently show that UConn offers academic excellence at a significant value for Connecticut residents compared with the amounts they would pay if they attended many competing institutions.
Among a group of 13 schools against which UConn directly competes for students, 10 have higher room and board rates. When looking only at housing costs without meal plans included, only one of the 13 competitors has a lower rate.
A large number of UConn students’ costs are also reduced by financial aid, with about 65% of undergraduates receiving some form of gift aid.
In fact, UConn has increased university-supported financial aid by 28% since July 1, 2018, while private scholarships raised by the UConn Foundation and other sources has also grown by several million dollars.
The changes approved in certain institutional and student fees starting July 1 will cover inflationary increases, the expansion of necessary services in specific technology areas, and other costs. Some of the fees have been flat for many years despite fiscal pressures that have caused expenses to outpace revenue.
“While we want to maintain our downward pressure on tuition and fees for the students’ sake, costs continue to increase,” Blanchard told trustees on Wednesday. “Almost all of the costs have increased faster than the rates, so it is time to catch up.”
More details on changes to specific fees are delineated in the agenda item and presentation made this week to trustees and their financial affairs committee.
Other updates include increases to some academic program fees, which are approved by a committee led by the Provost’s Office and are paid by students in specific programs to cover the costs of those programs, including in the School of Business, School of Nursing, and Graduate School.
In the School of Law, students in the part-time evening division program will see fees decrease to make the costs equitable in line with the full-time day program.
