The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) will offer some students free tuition to the system’s 12 community colleges this fall, after the Board of Regents allocated $3 million to the program.
The state legislature in 2019 approved CSCU’s so-called Pledge to Advance Connecticut, which offers free community college tuition and some fees to students who graduated high school in Connecticut, but no funding mechanism was established.
The $3 million allocation will cover students for the fall semester, but more state funding would be necessary for CSCU to continue the program into 2021, said David Levinson, interim president of Connecticut State Community College — the forthcoming centralized state community college.
“The Board of Regents’ action today is an important, albeit temporary, step to get the tuition and fee-free community college program up and running for the fall semester,” said Levinson, who added he wishes to work with state legislators on making the program permanent.
Levinson was named interim head of the state’s to-be-consolidated community college system, which will be called Connecticut State Community College. Levinson’s starting salary is $288,354, per the agreement.
CSCU will meet with the New England Commission of Higher Education, the regional higher education accreditation body, at the end of June to discuss its progress and transition plan for consolidating the state’s community colleges, Ojakian said. Under the current timeline, the newly-consolidated community college would begin enrolling students in the fall of 2022.
In order to qualify for free community college under the Pledge to Advance Connecticut, students must:
- Be a graduate of a public or private Connecticut high school (GED and homeschooled students qualify).
- Be a first-time college student (those who participated in dual enrollment programs while in high school are not excluded).
- Fill out FAFSA and accept all awards.
- Attend community college full-time (12 or more credits per semester).
- Apply and register by July 15, 2020 for priority consideration.
- Participate in a degree or credit-bearing certificate program.
- Once enrolled, remain in good academic standing.
