🔒Under Maduko, newly merged CT community college system records enrollment gains, erases deficits

When Dr. O. John Maduko took over as the first president of the new Connecticut State Community College system, CT State, he had lofty goals and significant challenges to overcome.

He’s made progress over the past year by boosting enrollment, clearing deficits, upgrading campus facilities and improving student and faculty diversity.

Maduko took over the role in June 2022, unanimously selected by the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities Board of Regents for Higher Education to lead the consolidation of Connecticut’s 12 community colleges into one unified system.

That process, which at times was contentious as a result of some faculty push back, was completed in June 2023.

Now in its second year, CT State is the largest community college in New England, and Connecticut’s largest higher-education institution, serving 25% of all undergrads across the state at 12 campus locations.

“It was a huge undertaking,” Maduko said of the merger. His overall goal in 2024 was to “stabilize the institution,” he added.

Growing the pipeline

A key focus area for Maduko has been reversing the community college system’s long-term enrollment decline.

Progress was made this year, with fall 2024 headcount enrollment, which includes full- and part-time credit-earning students, up 3.8% from a year earlier to 36,315 enrollees, according to data provided by CT State.

That represents the first enrollment increase for the community college system since fall 2012. However, enrollment is still well behind pre-pandemic levels, when community college headcount totaled 45,905 students in fall 2019.

Additionally, full-time equivalent enrollment grew 3% this fall compared to a year ago to 21,708 students, while enrollment in certificate-only programs rose by 14%, CT State data shows.

Several factors contributed to the enrollment growth, Maduko said, including offering programs in in-demand fields like health care and manufacturing, which have significant job openings.

CT State also offers early- and dual-enrollment programs that allow high school students to earn both high school and college credits. That’s helped build a pipeline of high school recruits, as has a free tuition program that covers some community college costs for Connecticut residents who are enrolled full- or part-time.

Maduko said he also helped launch an aggressive marketing campaign — using billboards, advertisements and social media — to target high school students and promote CT State’s course offerings, job training and tuition support.

Sixty-seven percent of CT State students are first-generation college students, while 57% hold down jobs while taking classes.

DEI and deficits

Other major focus areas were diversity and budget stability, Maduko said.

CT State this year has seen an 11% increase in students identifying as Hispanic/Latino, and a 9% rise in Black/African-American students. Nearly 60% of CT State’s students are minorities, Maduko said.

There’s also been an increase in minority faculty and staff.

Meantime, Maduko said he’s been able to close multiple deficits that were projected in fiscal years 2024 ($33.6 million) and 2025 ($91.3 million) through a number of cost-saving initiatives, including staff reductions, with a focus on eliminating executive leadership roles and duplicative jobs.

CT State also benefited financially from the higher enrollment and conservative cost projections. The state Board of Regents raised tuition by 5% at the state’s regional universities and community colleges for the fall 2024 semester, further boosting revenues.

“It can’t be all just cutting, there has to be some revenue enhancement,” Maduko said of balancing CT State’s $452.5 million operating budget.

But there are still headwinds on the horizon.

Pandemic-era federal aid is slated to dry up, leaving funding gaps for higher education and other key sectors that rely on government support. Maduko said CT State is projecting a deficit in fiscal 2026.

A newly released report from the National Center for Higher Education Management Systems, which has recommended major changes to the Connecticut State Universities and College system and how it’s managed, did raise some concerns about the the state's community college system.

The report said CT State “inherited a set of problems” from the hiring of several staffers through the use of one-time pandemic relief funding.

“CT State is chipping away at reducing this group of staff as they voluntarily move on, although the pace of progress is frustratingly slow,” the report said. “A staffing plan that realistically brings employment levels a.) into alignment with enrollment realities, b.) allows leadership to deal with the necessary geographic placement of personnel and c.) indicates the time period over which such adjustments can be expected would help put staffing decisions on a stronger, more justifiable foundation and will be an important next step in the launching of this new institution.”

Even still, Maduko says CT state is “in a decent financial position compared to other (higher educational institutions) that are woefully in the red.”

Capital improvements

There have also been some important capital investments made over the past year, Maduko said.

In late October, CT State’s Hartford Capital campus debuted a new 2,925-square-foot manufacturing center, completed in just under a year. It was funded with the help of $500,000 from the Capital Community College Foundation, combined with $733,180 in state bond funds.

Another manufacturing center is expected to open in Farmington next year at the Tunxis campus.

At the Manchester campus, an existing suite was converted into a 2,100-square-foot occupational therapy lab and classroom.

Numerous energy upgrades were also made, including fuel cell installations at the Naugatuck and Manchester campuses; EV changing station additions at the Tunxis, Quinebaug, Three Rivers and Manchester campuses; and LED lighting upgrades.

Moving forward

Now that the merger is relatively complete, Maduko said he will shift his focus to developing a five-year strategic outlook.

Details of that plan are not yet laid out, but one of his focus areas will be to ensure all campuses get the same support when it comes to service delivery, capital improvements, financial aid, etc., so there is equity within the community college system.

He also wants to maintain and enhance CT State’s core mission to be a workforce development engine for students and companies.

“The end goal for CT State students is not graduation, it doesn’t stop there,” he said. “At the end of the day, we want them to leave here having the tools for family-sustaining career training.”

A CT Mirror report was used in this story.