Connecticut\u2019s upcoming budget season is likely to require tough decisions at the Capitol and also at UConn, but the University is committed to protecting its academic enterprise while working to keep tuition at the levels set in the current four-year plan, UConn\u2019s top financial officer says.<\/p>\n
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy will present his proposal for a new 2017-18 budget to legislators on Feb. 8, and has said that one of the highest priorities at the Capitol this year should be creating greater stability and economic predictability for residents and businesses.<\/p>\n
\nOur goal is to be affordable and accessible to all. — Scott Jordan<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
That economic predictability is also a core tenet of UConn\u2019s approach to tuition and budgeting, including the four-year tuition scale that the Board of Trustees adopted in December 2015 to help students and families in their planning through 2020.<\/p>\n
Although recent reductions in state aid and increases in fringe benefit costs have made budgeting more challenging, UConn intends to adhere to that schedule without increases unless something occurs that is so financially harmful that changes are unavoidable.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs a public university, we don\u2019t raise tuition lightly \u2013 we hate raising tuition,” says Scott Jordan, UConn\u2019s chief financial officer and executive vice president for administration. “Our goal is to be affordable and accessible to all.\u201d<\/p>\n
As tuition increases, so does financial aid, which UConn has consistently prioritized as an important factor in helping draw highly talented students from modest economic backgrounds. In fact, almost 40 percent of all tuition dollars are dedicated to financial aid and tuition waivers.<\/p>\n
In an interview with a local radio station this week, Jordan said that UConn and other state agencies were notified to prepare for a cut of 10 percent in their state funds for the 2017-18 fiscal year, which begins July 1.<\/p>\n
UConn lost $29.2 million in state funding in fiscal year 2017\u00a0\u2013 the current fiscal year. At the same time, its fringe benefit expenses have increased dramatically in recent years as UConn and other state agencies have been charged extra to help the state retroactively cover its unfunded pension liabilities.<\/p>\n
Malloy noted in his recent State of the State Address that of the $1.65 billion that Connecticut will pay next year into the state retirement system, 78 percent of that \u2013 or nearly $1.3 billion \u2013 is to catch up.<\/p>\n
UConn\u2019s employee fringe costs have gone up as part of that statewide effort to catch up: It was $122 million in 2007, and will be more than $258 million this year. In fact, UConn has paid about $88 million since 2013, specifically due to the state\u2019s unfunded pension liabilities \u2013 money that otherwise would have gone to other needs throughout the University.<\/p>\n
Previous reductions in UConn\u2019s state aid and increases in fringe costs have been absorbed primarily by reducing costs and also with some of the revenue from tuition increases, including about $12.8 million of tuition money last year toward the $29.2 million in lost state revenue.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been holding the line on our expenses,\u201d Jordan said, noting that this year\u2019s budget line for salaries, for instance, has been held essentially flat.<\/p>\n
The state appropriation funds about 28 percent of UConn\u2019s budget; that figure has dropped from 43 percent of UConn\u2019s revenue as recently as the year 2000.<\/p>\n