Six weeks ago, public colleges in Connecticut thought they might lose one-fifth of their state funding in the next two years, leading to widespread layoffs, academic-program cuts, and tuition increases.
The state’s final biennial-budget agreement, which passed the legislature this week, isn’t the worst-case scenario that higher-ed leaders had feared. But the financial fight that played out in Connecticut this spring is an ominous sign of potential belt-tightening in other states as federal Covid-relief dollars run out, putting public regional universities at particular risk.
Connecticut’s 2023-25 budget, scheduled to be signed in the next few days by Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, would allocate $116 million less to regional universities and community colleges for 2025. In the previous budget cycle, a state surplus and federal pandemic relief had helped expand support for the four public regional universities, which nearly doubled their per-student spending from 2019 to 2023.
Now that funding is going away.
Last month a national assessment of state support for higher ed found that 2 percent of all higher-ed funding in 2022 — $2.5 billion of $120.7 billion — had come from federal pandemic aid. Some states leveraged it more than others, and an expert told The Chronicle that “a fiscal cliff” was looming in certain parts of the country.
A state-budget crunch in Connecticut could foreshadow cutbacks for public regional campuses across the country as federal stimulus money runs out.
Public regionals rely heavily on state money to make ends meet. And yet those institutions receive, on average, roughly $1,000 less in state support per full-time student than flagship campuses do.
Adding to the financial pressures, many public regionals are already struggling with a loss of tuition revenue: From 2010 to 2021, enrollment at flagship campuses went up 12 percent, but it dropped more than 4 percent on regional campuses, according to a recent Chronicle analysis.
As the dust settles on the 2023 legislative session in Connecticut, two things seem clear: The future of the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system is going to be smaller. And at Western Connecticut State University, a 4,000-student campus in Danbury, Conn., the clouds of fiscal distress are already moving in.
The First Shoe to Drop
As the Connecticut legislature was preparing its budget for the next two years amid rapidly evaporating federal stimulus money, Lamont told colleges to cut spending in preparation for smaller budgets.
The legislature’s initial proposal would have cut state higher-ed appropriations 10 percent by 2024 and 20 percent by 2025. Students, faculty, and alumni protested throughout the spring. Op-eds predicted dire consequences for some of the state’s colleges.
While the final version of the 2023-25 budget contains slightly more money for public higher education in the 2024 fiscal year — thanks to a one-time infusion that the governor described as a stopgap to “transition back to a sustainable level of state support” — cuts are on the horizon after that.
Terrence Cheng, president of the Connecticut State system, said in an interview that the final agreement demonstrated better communication between campuses and the state government about what higher ed needed. Still, Cheng said, conversations have already started with individual campus leaders about how to reduce spending.
Personnel cuts — both layoffs and position eliminations — will probably become the first shoe to drop, said Louise Williams, a history professor at Central Connecticut State University and president of the systemwide faculty union. She predicted that many part-time faculty members would not be rehired, reducing the availability of courses for students.
I don’t know why they want to attack higher ed.
The near term looks especially grim at Western Connecticut State, which was already in trouble. Declining enrollment and poor financial management ushered in a new president there last year.
An external report in April 2022 found that Western had an “expenditure-control problem” and was worse off financially than the other three Connecticut State campuses. Closed-door conversations this spring sparked rumors that Western would be the first public college to close if deep budget cuts were enacted.
Last fall Western officials proposed cutting a handful of social-science majors, including anthropology and economics, a move that sparked student protests. The administration eventually decided to cut one major and reorganize some degree programs into other departments.
Connecticut, one of the wealthiest states in the country, has a Democratic governor and legislature — typically a recipe for bigger spending on higher ed. But higher-ed funding there has slumped 11 percent since 2001.
“I don’t know why they want to attack higher ed,” Williams said of the state’s political leaders. She added that the Connecticut State system serves many students who could not otherwise afford to go to college.
Reduced program offerings at regional state colleges can cause dilemmas for prospective students whose college options may be limited, said Alivia Stonier, a rising junior at Western and editor in chief of its student newspaper, The Echo.
As a student with a physical disability, Stonier said she had chosen Western because her health insurance required her to stay in-state. But with degree programs being eliminated and potential cuts coming to student organizations and services, she said, undergraduates must decide whether to leave Connecticut for college — even if they’ll struggle to afford it — or accept a weaker slate of academic offerings.
“That’s one of the reasons I think it’s really important to keep as many resources for in-state as possible,” she said. “West Conn was really the only option I had.”
