Top leaders at the University of Connecticut proposed scaling back proposed tuition and fee increases for the next academic year due to economic stress on students caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Instead of a $625 bump in annual tuition for in-state students, the new plan would raise tuition by 2.2%, to $312 for the 2021-22 academic year.
The proposal was presented at a live-streamed town hall on Wednesday. UConn’s Board of Trustees is scheduled to vote on it Feb. 24.
University CFO Scott Jordan said the tuition hike had been scaled back after input from students and faculty about the devastating impact of the pandemic.
“We’re doing this for a number of reasons, but all of it is related to understanding of the financial stress that we are all under during the COVID crisis,” Jordan said. The new proposal is the “bare minimum” needed to keep the university’s programs on a secure financial footing, he said.
One fee that will increase under the proposal is the health surcharge, slated to rise by $56 a year to fund additional mental health resources for students. Responding to input from a recent task force, the university plans to add four more clinicians and three health educators at the Storrs campus to address mental health needs as students deal with pandemic stressors.
Other fees slated to rise are the student activity fee, by $4 a year, and an $8 hike in the transportation fee to help fund additional shuttle services and public-transit passes connecting the university’s campuses in Storrs, Hartford and Stamford.
Fees for room, board, the general university fee, recreation and infrastructure would stay the same.
