UConn

UConn Board of Trustees Approves Budget

UConn’s board of trustees unanimously approved on the budget for next year, but tuition could go up more than originally planned in the future.

Tuition at UConn might increase more than expected for the 2019-2020 school year. There was already a plan for tuition to increase $950 for in-state students.

The UConn Board of Trustees’ financial affairs committee looked at the proposed budget for the 2018-2019 school year earlier this month and the university’s budget officials warned board members that balancing the budget could be more difficult in the future and force them to raise tuition.

UConn Spokesperson Stephanie Reitz said it is because of three reasons:

  1. UConn keeps getting less money from the state
  2. The university has to pay more in unfunded pension liabilities. That is driving the cost of fringe benefits up from $148.3 million in 2011 to a projected $277 million in 2019. That only includes costs for Storrs and the regional campuses, not the UConn Health workers.
  3. The university has to contribute to the recent pact the state made with unionized employees. The $2,000 one-time payment that each employee gets amounts to $20 million in costs for UConn. Only part of those costs is reimbursed.

All of these factors could lead to a larger tuition increase for the 2019-2020 fiscal year. UConn already had a four-year tuition increase scheduled.

Reitz said any change to tuition would be discussed over this next year and could take effect at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year.

No decisions on tuition increases were made Wednesday.

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