HARTFORD, Conn. (WTIC Radio) - Connecticut's community colleges will have to find millions of dollars in savings under the budget for the upcoming fiscal year approved by the Board of Regents for Higher Education Thursday.
The spending plan includes an operating deficit of nearly $20 million for the 12-school system.
Roughly $7.1 million of that will be covered by tapping cash reserves. The balance must be covered through cuts, which may include continued hiring freezes, reduced overtime, and sharing more services. Each campus will develop its own plan to institute the cuts. Officials say the goal is to insulate student-facing services.
The cuts will total up to $12.5 million. However, that savings target will be reduced by at least $1 million, thanks to better-than-expected projections on employee fringe benefit costs. Those numbers were still being analyzed Thursday, when the spending package was adopted.
Regents, earlier this spring, increased community college tuition by two percent starting in the fall semester.