In accordance with its responsibilities contained within C.G.S. Section 10a-26, the Board of Governors for Higher Education establishes the following statewide tuition and student fee policy for public institutions of higher education:
Tuition
Policy Principles
Rationality and Predictability – The tuition policy should be rational and predictable. The tuition policy should balance the impact of tuition rate setting on the institution and the student with consideration given to the short and long-term program needs of the institution and the financial burdens placed on the student.
Access – A tuition policy should ensure that students are not disenfranchised. As student costs rise under any policy or set of fiscal conditions, state and institutional student financial assistance budgets must be adjusted accordingly.
Equity – A tuition policy should be imposed fairly and should eliminate artificial barriers that treat differently the same types of students within each constituent unit. Students should not be assessed different tuition charges for the same courses depending on whether they are full or part-time, enrolled during the day or at night, or take the same course on-campus or off-campus.
Adaptability – A
statewide tuition policy must be flexible enough to adapt to changing federal
and state funding policies, it must relate to the
Cost Beneficial – A tuition policy must consider the cost/benefit to both the student and the state. The balance between student and state support should be based on an understanding of the value placed on an educated population and the expected returns of the college experience.
Student Share
The Board of Governors for Higher Education is committed to insuring equity in educational costs for all students and to obtaining adequate, equitable and consistent state financial support for all students. To articulate this goal, the Board of Governors establishes that the setting of tuition and related fee rates shall be linked to the Educational and General (E&G) budget structure within the operating budget by means of a student share calculation of costs. The operating budget is composed of two major operational areas – the E&G budget and the Auxiliary Enterprise budget as defined below.
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E&G Revenue · General Fund Appropriation and Fringe Benefit Allotment · E&G tuition revenue – as defined on the next page · Credit and Non-Credit Extension Revenues · Federal Appropriations, Grants & Contracts · Private Gifts, Grants and Donations · Miscellaneous Fees (i.e. registration fees, late fees, lab fees, transcript fees) · Miscellaneous Revenues used to support E&G activities |
E&G
Expenditures · Instruction · Research · Public Service · Academic Support · Libraries · Student Services · Institutional Support – including all overhead costs supported through auxiliary service revenues · Operations & Maintenance of Plant ·
Scholarships & Fellowships (not including
statutory waivers) |
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Auxiliary
Revenue Sources · Debt Service Fees · General University Fees · Housing Fees · Food Service Fees · Parking Fees and Fines · Room Deposit Fees · Athletics Revenue · Auditorium Revenue · Child Care Fees |
Auxiliary
Expenditures · Jorgensen Auditorium (UConn) · Athletics (including scholarships) · Health Services & Accident Insurance · Debt Service for Bonds · Parking Garages/Shuttle Bus Services · Book Stores & Child Care · Student Activities and Union Program · Student Residence Halls · Food Service Operations |
The student share calculation for any year
shall consist of the sum of defined tuition revenue, interest earnings and
projected utilization of reserves (student share) as a percentage of all
E&G expenses except federal appropriations, private gifts, sales and
services of educational departments and non-credit extension revenues (E&G
unrestricted expenditures). The
student share shall be calculated annually as part of the cost per student
calculation formula in the Operating Budget Request. All units shall be subject to this
calculation except the
When setting tuition, the boards of trustees for each constituent unit shall target the student share of the requested E&G budget within the prescribed percentage range as provided below.
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Minimum |
Policy Goal |
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30% |
35% |
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30% |
35% |
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Community Colleges |
25% |
30% |
Annual Tuition Cap
The board of trustees for each constituent unit shall be cognizant of the impact of tuition and fee rate adjustments on the student share of the E&G budget. Notwithstanding the above, in no year shall tuition, as defined below, for any student increase by more than 15 percent from the preceding year. However, if in any year a constituent unit cannot achieve the minimum student share percentage target without tuition increases greater than 15 percent, the minimum tuition increase for that unit shall be 15 percent for that year.
Tuition Definitions
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· Tuition plus maintenance portion of the Infrastructure Maintenance Fee · Credit extension fees excluding courses intended to be self-supporting and operated outside the normal academic year |
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· Tuition, Information Technology Fee and University General Fee · Credit extension fees excluding courses intended to be self-supporting and operated outside the normal academic year as well as the prorated portion of University General Fee |
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Community Colleges |
· Tuition plus College Services Fee · Credit extension fees excluding courses intended to be self-supporting and operated outside the normal academic year |
The Department of Higher Education shall work with each constituent unit to ensure consistency across the system in the definition and treatment of tuition and fees for purposes of this policy.
Differentiation
Units shall maintain, within reasonable limits, the current differentiation of tuition rates by student level and residency status as shown below.
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Undergraduate |
Graduate |
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Resident |
1.00 |
1.23 |
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Non-Resident |
3.00 |
3.20 |
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NEBHE |
1.50 |
1.85 |
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Undergraduate |
Graduate |
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Resident |
1.00 |
1.20 |
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Non-Resident |
2.70 |
3.00 |
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NEBHE |
1.38 |
1.66 |
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Undergraduate |
Graduate |
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Community Colleges |
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Resident |
1.00 |
- |
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Non-Resident |
3.00 |
- |
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NEBHE |
1.50 |
- |
In recognition of changing state economic conditions,
however, boards of trustees for each constituent unit may differentiate tuition
rates for graduate programs based on program cost and workforce demand. Differentiation by program at the
undergraduate level is not permitted except
for fees designed for “breakage or consumable materials” used in connection
with a specific course or program. The
implementation of unique undergraduate
course or program fees instituted to cover costs that were or traditionally
would have been supported with regular tuition or other revenues is considered
differentiation and is not permitted.
Student
Financial Aid Set-Aside
Student
financial assistance shall be linked to this tuition policy. An amount equal to a minimum of 15 percent of
projected tuition revenues shall be set-aside by each constituent unit to
provide financial assistance to needy students in the form of tuition waivers,
remissions, student employment, or grants.
The
Use
of Reserves
Reserves within the operating fund should provide a mechanism to set-aside funds for general contingencies and to support specific major projects which because of their size and scope cannot normally be supported within any one annual operating budget. The board of trustees for each of the constituent units shall develop a policy governing the establishment and maintenance of fund balance reserves within the operating fund to provide for major planning and/or improvement initiatives provided that a list of such designated reserves be included as part of the biennial operating budget request. Such list shall include a description of the respective purposes of the reserves and an estimate of when these funds are to be expended.
Tuition Equalization
Tuition
equalization and equitable student and state share continues to be a goal of
the Board of Governors for Higher Education to be achieved as funding permits
and in conjunction with other unit and state priorities. The
Other
Fee Policies
As a general goal, all regular session instruction offered for credit should be supported by general funds and tuition revenue. However, the use of education extension funds to support credit instruction other than credit instruction provided through contractual agreement shall be permitted, but shall be limited in scope. Per credit hour fees for these courses shall be set equal to the per credit hour tuition rates at the appropriate instructional level. The use of educational extension funds should be limited to non-credit courses and courses offered under contractual arrangement.
Constituent units shall not use auxiliary services revenues to support E&G expenditures, but shall shift these costs to the E&G budget. In addition, all constituent units shall policies which minimize the number of different mandatory fees charged and establish uniformity within the constituent unit with respect to the number and types of fees charged.
The setting of tuition and required
fee rates at the
The data base for determining the
percentile factor will come from tuition/fee data reported annually by the
American Association of Medical Schools and the American Dental
Association. Adjustments to the data
base to account for inflation from the point in time the data is reported to
the fiscal year in which the new
Paralleling the overall tuition policy for the higher education system, 15 percent of tuition revenues shall be earmarked for financial assistance programs to needy students.
Review
and Approval
In accordance with sections 10a-77, 10a-83, 10a-99, and 10a-105 C.G.S., the Board of Governors shall review and make recommendations on all constituent unit tuition and fee rate proposals for adherence to this policy. The boards of trustees for each constituent unit may petition the Board of Governors for exceptions to the tuition policy. The Board of Governors shall develop criteria upon which exceptions to such policy would be considered
A two-tier review and approval process is established. Tier I fees shall consist of all mandatory fee charges, educational extension fund fees, and housing and food services fees. Tier II fees shall consist of non-mandatory fee charges, fees used to support student-managed activities, user charges, non-credit education extension fund fees and fees which generally are not increased each year in response to inflationary pressures.
September 2004