UConn Considering Coronavirus-Related Tuition, Fee 'Adjustments'

STORRS, CT — University of Connecticut officials have a plan on the table to cut in half the approved tuition increase for the 2021-22 academic year and are citing coronavirus hardships at the reason.

The proposal was discussed at Wednesday's UConn Board of Trustees meeting but not voted on. The trustees will be making a decision "at a vote meeting," university officials said.

The plan is designed to "keep flat" most fees. with "modest increases" in only a few categories, officials said. One increase could be related to the school adding more counselors and mental health educators, something requested by students and recently recommended by the UConn President’s Task Force on Mental Health and Wellness, officials said.

UConn traditionally reviews its fee schedule each winter in preparation for the following academic year and sets tuition on a multi-year schedule. The school is currently in the second year of a five-year tuition adjustment plan adopted in late 2019 – before the pandemic.

The tuition plan includes a 4.3 percent increase for in-state tuition starting this fall. Under the proposal, the tuition adjustment would be cut in half to 2.2 percent, or $312 rather than the original $625.

Officials said that's the lowest percentage change since the 2000 fiscal year, when tuition was adjusted by 1.39 percent.

"We're doing this for a number of reasons, but all of it is related to the understanding of the financial stress that we are all under during the COVID crisis," said Scott Jordan, UConn's executive vice president for administration and chief financial officer. "The University strives to maintain excellence in our programming, and we want to raise tuition as little as possible to maintain that excellence and affordability.

"We took a hard look at that this year and asked, 'What is the bare minimum at which we could get by while not compromising (students') educational experience?' and we arrived at this number."

Under the plan, fees for "self-supporting services" like housing, dining, recreation, the General University Fee, infrastructure maintenance and technology would be frozen at their current level for the coming academic year.

Student fees designed to contribute to the expansion of student health and wellness services would increase by $28. The proposal includes four more mental health clinicians with various roles and specialties, and three health educators focused on mental health needs.

Under the proposal, the transit fee would also be adjusted by $4 per semester to pay for the state U-Pass, the popular statewide program which gives college and university students unlimited rides on all Connecticut public transit buses and trains.

UConn's fee proposal would adjust student activity fees by $2 per semester to help offset increased printing costs for the Nutmeg Yearbook. It would be the first increase in several years.

UConn is on track to receive about $32.2 million in total funding under that supplemental COVID relief act, with $10.7 million of the funds going to student financial aid as directed by the federal legislation.

UConn intends to distribute the student aid in several phases, allowing it to support students who have exceptional or modest financial needs in addition to those who have a pandemic-related hardship, officials said.

In the first phase of distributing the funding to students, the grant awards will range from $250 to $500 depending on need. More than 12,000 UConn students across undergraduate, graduate, and professional levels – including law, dental and medical students – are expected to qualify for financial assistance in the early distribution phases.