39 Woodland Street
Hartford, CT 06105-2337
860-723-0011
www.ct.edu

Gregory W. Gray
President
June 4, 2015
All CSCU System Faculty and Staff members,
During the last 3 months administration and staff at the CSCU System Office and at CSCU institutions
have worked to develop a budget plan for the CSCU system based on Governor Malloy’s February
budget address. Today, following the passage of the 2016/2017 budget bill in the legislature last night,
we feel comfortable providing you with an overview of the budget for the next fiscal year. Our bottom
line: a slightly brighter picture for 2016 than the Governor’s proposal, on which we built savings plans
for the System Office and the CSCU institutions. The additional funding we were provided in this
budget will enable us to increase (very modestly) our investment in some critical areas.
At the highest level, the BOR will receive a total appropriation (round numbers) of $353.5 million, or
approximately $12.9 million above the Governor’s proposal, which includes roughly $9.4 million for
developmental education. It also makes it possible for us to apply roughly $10 million to tuition relief
for students. We are gratified with the increase, because it represents support for the perspective that
higher education in Connecticut, and specifically the state’s public higher education system, is a
significant contributor to our students’ and our state’s future.
This budget nevertheless creates some fiscal challenges for CSCU that will require our collective focus
and commitment to address. For example, it requires us to defer action on a number of key initiatives
we were hoping to launch in the 2016 academic year: much of Transform CSCU 2020, the Regents
Scholarship program, and critical needs in the areas of academic advising and early college programs.
This budget makes it critical that we maintain tight control of staffing and other expenses, consistent
with plans presented to the Finance Committee in last month’s hearings. It also supports our decision
to undertake a systematic review of the CSCU structure and operations, which I believe will result in the
identification of greater efficiencies across the system. This will, in turn, ensure that we allocate every
dime possible to academics and student services. We will begin this review next week, when the
Presidents and I meet. I will be providing you more detail regarding the 2016 budget in the weeks
ahead, after we have had the chance to review it more thoroughly.
In closing, I know we all remain steadfastly committed to our students, and to increasing access,
affordability and excellence at CSCU. Working together, I am confident that we can deliver on our
promise to them next year, and in the years to come.
Sincerely,

Gregory W. Gray, President
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