UConn President Maric: State budget sets UConn up for $134M deficit over next 2 years
PHOTO | CONTRIBUTED/UCONN
University of Connecticut President Radenka Maric
UConn President Radenka Maric, in a letter to the campus community on Wednesday, said the state’s biennial budget approved this week will provide $113 million less for UConn and UConn Health, its academic health center, than the amounts approved in the prior fiscal year.
That loss of funding will result in a $134 million deficit over the next two years, she said.
In the letter, Maric noted major shortfalls for fiscal 2026:
- UConn requested a state appropriation of $318.7 million. The approved fiscal 2026 budget provides $268.2 million. This will lead to a shortfall of $72 million.
- UConn Health requested $202.8 million. The approved fiscal 2026 budget provides $143.5 million. This will lead to a shortfall of $61.8 million.
And for fiscal 2027:
- UConn requested a state appropriation of $322.3 million. The approved budget provides $253.5 million. This will lead to a shortfall of $87 million.
- UConn Health requested a state appropriation of $214.5 million. The approved budget provides $139.1 million. This will lead to a shortfall of $45 million.
Based on the approved budget, the state will support 15% of UConn’s budget and 8% of UConn Health’s budget next year. That’s less than in the current fiscal year, when the state supported 20% of UConn’s budget and 12% for UConn Health.
However, UConn and other state college budgets have been propped up in recent years by emergency federal COVID-19 grants, but that funding is now drying up, contributing to the financial pressures.
Maric said UConn is working on plans to close the gaps and has “levers it can use to increase revenue,” such as raising tuition and fees, expanding enrollment and taking more out-of-state students.
“While each generates more revenue, they also create new challenges,” Maric said.
Other avenues include philanthropy and external grants. The state recently passed legislation to create tax credit incentives for UConn donors.
Even so, closing the deficits will require UConn to “utilize a significant amount” from its reserve funds over the next two years, Maric said.
“And if these one-time funds become exhausted, they do not automatically replenish, and structural deficits will remain, absent increased investments from the state, even with substantial new revenue generation and cost-cutting on our end,” Maric said.
Capital investment
The state legislature also approved a $9.7 billion bond package Wednesday to finance school construction, transportation upgrades and other capital projects for the next two fiscal years.
The borrowing plan recommends capital improvements at UConn Health totalling $28 million in the next fiscal year and $43 million in fiscal 2027.
UConn itself stands to receive much less, with $8 million in capital investment proposed for fiscal 2026 and nothing the following year.
UConn Health’s capital budget includes $3 million for telecommunications system upgrades in both fiscal 2026 and 2027. It also recommends $25 million for equipment, library collections and telecommunications in fiscal 2026 and $10 million in fiscal 2027.
Further, it proposes $30 million for deferred maintenance, code compliance and infrastructure improvements at UConn Health in fiscal 2027.
For UConn, the capital budget includes $5 million for equipment, library collections and telecommunications in fiscal 2026 and $3 million for improvements to digital learning infrastructure at a regional campus, in fiscal 2026 only.
The financing also increases the authorization for the Greer Field House, an indoor track facility at UConn’s main campus in Storrs, by $4 million (from $160 million to $164 million). It served as home to the Huskies men’s and women’s basketball teams until Gampel Pavilion opened in 1990.
The bill also provides $11.5 million to UConn for individual classroom air purifiers for public school classrooms.
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