The CSCU in-state tuition plan may extend rates to Massachusetts and Rhode Island students as Connecticut colleges seek enrollment amid a shrinking regional student pool.
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A Connecticut State Colleges and Universities committee has advanced a proposal to extend in-state tuition rates to students from Massachusetts and Rhode Island, but the measure is on hold while the system studies its potential financial and enrollment impacts.
The resolution would give each CSCU institution the option to charge residents of the two states the in-state undergraduate rate beginning in the 2027-28 academic year. Students would keep the rate for as long as they remain continuously enrolled. The discount would be available to undergraduates at all six CSCU schools, system spokesperson Samantha Norton said.
It would expand a policy the board adopted in March 2022 that gave every campus the option to charge New York and New Jersey residents the in-state rate, Norton said.
Eastern Connecticut State University began offering that rate in 2025-26, a discount of $3,500 a year off the out-of-state price, and a system staff report says new registrations from New York have grown from 16 students to 60 for the coming year, while New Jersey has grown from four to 11.
Students from outside Connecticut make up a small slice of the system. Of 70,862 students enrolled in fall 2025, the most recent year with final counts, 3,266 came from out of state, or 4.6%, according to figures Norton provided.
That share varies sharply by campus. Nearly 23% of Western Connecticut State University's 4,573 students came from out of state, the highest in the system, followed by Charter Oak State College at 11.2%. CT State Community College, the system's largest institution with 37,863 students, drew just 1.3% from beyond Connecticut. Fall 2026 counts remain preliminary and will be finalized at the end of September.
CSCU frames the change as a response to a shrinking pool of college-age students across the Northeast and to competition from other states. Connecticut ranks fourth nationally in students who leave for college elsewhere. Of the 33,430 Connecticut residents who enrolled as first-time undergraduates in fall 2022, 14,528 went out of state, leaving a net loss of 2,661 students after accounting for those who came in.
The University of Maine has matched UConn's in-state rate for Connecticut residents for more than a decade, and New York extended the same offer across its SUNY and CUNY campuses beginning in fall 2025.
Norton said the proposal is not contingent on Massachusetts or Rhode Island offering Connecticut students anything in return. She described it as another tool in the system's enrollment strategy, one meant to level a playing field on which other New England institutions already court Connecticut residents with similar incentives. Out-of-state enrollment across CSCU has grown by more than 11% since fall 2020, she said.
Lloyd Blanchard, CSCU’s chief financial officer, told the Board of Regents at a special meeting Tuesday that the Finance and Infrastructure Committee approved the proposal Aug. 12 after a “vigorous discussion” that included input from campus presidents.
Interim Board Chair Ari Santiago held the measure from consideration by the full board while CSCU conducts a broader analysis requested by presidents and other regents.
Norton said the system's finance team will lead that review, which will weigh how much additional revenue the discount could generate, how the policy would apply to Massachusetts and Rhode Island students already enrolled, and whether the effect would differ among campuses depending on how close they sit to the two state lines. She said the analysis is expected to reach the board by November.
Average in-state tuition and fees at the four state universities totaled $13,377, compared with $27,317 for out-of-state students, a gap of $13,940, according to system figures. At CT State, in-state students paid an average of $5,218 against $15,476 for those from other states, a difference of $10,258. At Charter Oak, the system's online college, the two rates were $8,506 and $8,990, a spread of just $484.
The tuition proposal also comes as CSCU works to address a structural deficit. The system's fiscal 2027 spending plan projects $1.18 billion in revenue against $1.34 billion in expenditures, a shortfall of about $156 million. All six CSCU institutions reported enrollment gains this fall, led by Eastern Connecticut State University, where the first-year class grew by more than 50%.
At the same meeting Tuesday, regents approved two tuition-discount agreements at Central Connecticut State University. One provides a 5% discount to employees of Associated Builders and Contractors of Connecticut, while the other applies to employees of the Southington Chamber of Commerce.
Both agreements call for a systemwide working group to study how tuition discounts affect enrollment, retention and finances. The group is expected to report its findings by Jan. 2, 2027.
