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Diving overview:
- The University of Connecticut is projecting a $70 million deficit in fiscal year 2025, prompting plans for the state to enact widespread budget cuts and ask lawmakers for additional funding.
- in Recent PresentationsThe university proposed a 15% cut in unit department and administrative support budgets over the next five years. The flagship product will launch in fiscal 2025 with a 3% cut, worth about $18 million.
- UConn is also requesting an additional $47.3 million from the state for the upcoming fiscal year. This amount will maintain the level of state support for the current fiscal year, according to university officials.
Dive Insights:
In a presentation shared with the university community this week, UConn Chief Financial Officer Jeff Geoghegan said: Two main causes A looming deficit.
First, the state's total budget for colleges and universities will decline by $47.3 million from fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2025 as federal pandemic relief funds are depleted.. UConn also used $16.1 million in one-time funding to plug holes in its budget this year, Geoghegan said.
Along with budget cuts, UConn officials shared plans to increase revenue. allAnd potentially withdrawing one-time funds from endowments and foundations.
But UConn's faculty slammed the budget cuts. in open letterThe faculty said the proposed cuts would “dramatically detract from UConn’s core mission of teaching and research excellence and its standing as a world-class institution of higher education.”
Faculty members argued that in order to reduce staff, key instructor positions and educational support must be eliminated. They expressed concerns that the downsizing would dramatically increase class sizes, shrink labs and undergraduate research programs, lower graduation rates, and lead to an exodus of faculty seeking better positions.
“These impacts are truly catastrophic,” the letter claims.. As of Wednesday afternoon, it had received more than 300 signatures.
During a virtual town hall Wednesday, UConn Provost Anne D'Alleva said officials are concerned about how the plan will affect staff and students.
“This is why it’s important for us to prioritize,” D’Alleva said. “We can’t do everything and be everything to everyone.”
In Alleva He also noted that UConn is not the only institution of higher education facing these kinds of problems. Penn State's Budget Problems and the City University of New York system..
In the letter, faculty also asked for an update on the university's negotiations with state lawmakers for more money.
But it's unclear whether state lawmakers will approve it. Yukon Request additional funds.
“With hundreds of millions of dollars in funding requests from Congress, it’s unclear what will happen in the next session,” Joann Lombardo, the university’s senior director of government relations, said at a town hall Wednesday. “We will continue to advocate for the resources we need, as we always have.”
If lawmakers do not approve funding, the university could take several actions, UConn President Radenka Maric said. That could include slowing spending and freezing hiring to reduce travel, but Maric noted that officials can't foresee those types of decisions at this point.
Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, a Democrat, plans to unveil his budget reconciliation proposal in early February, Lombardo said in a video presentation.
Chris Collibee, Governor's Budget Spokesperson, said: In an email Wednesday, Connecticut said it has allocated more than $1 billion to help public higher education institutions transition from one-time pandemic relief funding to sustainable levels of state funding.
“The one-time federal funding was intended to create a bridge to promote financial stability during the pandemic, not to increase ongoing state support. Any increase in state support must be consistent with a balanced budget that adheres to fiscal guardrails,” Collibee said.
Collibee added that there are several ways the university can manage costs or increase revenue without additional state support.
“We encourage UConn and UConn Health to implement strategies to adapt to the removal of federal funding,” Collibee said.