Co-chair of higher ed committee: Budget cuts could ‘kick-start a death spiral for’ state university system

Students and leaders of CSCU, Connecticut’s public college system, warned Monday that proposed cuts by the state legislature could lead to more than 3,000 layoffs across the state over the next two years.

The higher education system, which includes four regional universities and 12 community colleges, is facing a potential deficit in the next fiscal year of $109 million, which is less than 10% of the projected $1.5 billion budget. But the deficit could balloon to nearly $226 million in the second year, based on the budget passed last week by the legislature’s appropriations committee.

The cuts are not finalized because they are subject to negotiations over the next six weeks between Gov. Ned Lamont and top legislative leaders as they seek to craft a two-year, $50.5 billion state budget before the legislature adjourns on June 7.

Legislative leaders have cautioned that they must comply with the state-mandated spending cap, which limits the amount of money that Lamont and the legislature can spend. The college system has $150 million as one-time funding in the current year, but the federal money from the COVID-19 pandemic is expiring in various programs across the state.

Terrence Cheng, president of the university system, spoke to students and university leaders who had been summoned to the state Capitol complex to protest the shortfalls.

Top university leaders had been directed to the Capitol in an email from the system’s chief of staff that said, “Your presence is required,” according to a blog post by Hartford Courant columnist Kevin F. Rennie.

Cheng said he was surprised by the size and diversity of the crowd as he looked out at a packed room with supporters standing near the walls on all sides.

“It’s giving me chills,” Cheng said. “It just blows me away.”

The cuts, if enacted, could lead to layoffs of 650 fulltime faculty and staff over two years, along with more than 2,900 part-time positions, Cheng said.

“Students will get far less, and they will pay much more,” Cheng told the crowd.

The sprawling system of 17 colleges is a major economic driver with 85,000 students and 14,000 employees.

But Jeffrey Beckham, Lamont’s budget director, said the educators need to control costs at a time when enrollment has been nose-diving sharply in recent years. But educators say the enrollment this spring for the community colleges increased for the first time in 12 years.

“Simply asking for ever-increasing operating subsidies is not sustainable,” Beckham said. “Before looking to the taxpayers and students for additional funding, they must get their costs under control and in line with the current and expected future demand for students, which has decreased by 36 percent in the community colleges and 21 percent at the regional state universities. The students and taxpayers deserve value for their dollar. It is apparent that the CSCU administration needs to do more to assure that value.”

While educators said that Lamont’s plan falls short, Beckham said Lamont has supported the CSCU system for the past four years.

“His proposal for the next biennium represents a 27 percent increase in baseline appropriations and a 55 percent increase in total state funding, worth $334 million, over when he took office,” Beckham said. “That significantly increased support combined with the system’s substantially declining enrollment means state funding per student would — assuming enrollment remains level rather than declining further — nearly double from $7,418 in 2018 and 2019 to $14,290 in 2024 and 2025.”

At the community colleges, 72% of the funding comes from the state, while only 28% is derived from tuition and fees at the low-cost colleges, officials said.

Several students spoke at the news conference about being first-generation college students to create a better life for themselves, including Alcides Lopes Cabral of Bridgeport.

He said he turned his life around after being arrested twice and wanted to avoid prison. Born in Cape Verde, he moved to the United States with his family in 2016 and now attends Housatonic Community College in Bridgeport

“There are thousands out there with stories like mine – that are trying to change their life in their communities,” said Cabral. “In order to stay strong, we will need to continue investing in training our future graduates — no, innovators — that will shape the future of our society.”

State Sen. Derek Slap, a West Hartford Democrat who is a key player as co-chairman of the legislature’s higher education committee, said he believes progress can be made in the next six weeks.

“Connecticut, I believe, has a choice to make,” Slap told the crowd. “Are we going to create more nurses, more teachers, more mental health workers? … We’ve been hearing there’s a severe shortage. Our economy needs them. We need these workers, but then there’s this disconnect because we’re not investing adequately in our institutions of higher education.”

Slap said the committee’s goal is “not to be cheerleaders” for higher education, but instead is “to hold them accountable.”

If the budget cuts are enacted, Slap said, “I fear will kick-start a death spiral for this system — challenging and declining enrollments, higher and higher tuitions. What dynamic does that create?”

When Slap asked the crowd to give a grade for the state budget process so far, some in the crowd responded, “F.”

Rep. Gregg Haddad, a Mansfield Democrat who co-chairs the committee with Slap, said that he had never voted against the budget during his first 12 years at the state Capitol. But he voted against the recommendations last week of the appropriations committee.

“It is better than the governor’s initial proposal,” Haddad said, adding that he hopes “the legislature can find the political courage” to vote for increased spending in the final package.

Christopher Keating can be reached at ckeating@courant.com