Citing declining enrollment, the Academic Affairs Committee of UConn’s Board of Trustees is recommending that the university close its Torrington campus.
UConn spokeswoman Stephanie Reitz said the closure is less about short-term savings and more about avoiding a potential investment of at least $8.6 million in long-term capital improvements at the 51-year-old campus. “In the long run there would be a lot of capital improvements,” she said in an interview.
UConn Torrington is the school’s smallest satellite campus with an enrollment of 136 in the current semester, down from 151 in the fall. In addition to declining enrollment, school officials are also citing its inability to provide an experience equivalent to other UConn campuses, the cost of operating and maintaining the campus, and its proximity of the UConn Waterbury campus, which is about 30 minutes south via Route 8.
In the most recent round of budget cuts, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy reduced UConn’s current budget by $4 million.
The bulk of Torrington’s operational expenses (i.e., personnel costs) would be redirected to services at the Waterbury campus, where it is anticipated the largest number of former and potential Torrington campus enrollees would attend. UConn Torrington needs at least $8.6 million in capital improvements over the next 10 years (replacing roof, boilers and HVAC; providing upgrades for code compliance; septic system repair and/or replacement; repaving the parking lot and sidewalk areas, etc.).
