TUITION POLICY REVIEW COMMITTEE
RECORD OF MEETING
Members Present: W. Bevacqua, L. McHugh, M. Meotti, L. Zollo
1. Call to Order
Chairman Meotti called the meeting
to order at
2. Chairman’s Discussion Draft
Chairman Meotti distributed draft recommendations, in part, based on past Committee discussions for the Committee’s consideration. He reviewed the following seven points as a framework for changing the state’s tuition policy:
1. Deregulate tuition and fee policy
2. Systems submit tuition and fee schedule with budget request to General Assembly
3. State expands existing financial aid program for state residents attending CT public institutions
4. Establish clear guidelines for non-need based financial aid
5. Develop new approach for targeted investments for state appropriations
6. Benchmark system/institutions response to identified priorities
7. Develop complete cost accounting system for higher education
W. Bevacqua expressed his concerns over
deregulating the tuition and fee policy.
He stated that the Board of Governors for Higher Education needs to
maintain its degree of overall supervision in regards to tuition and fees to
ensure access is maintained. He further
noted that the Board of Governors has come to discover some other elements on
the other side of the equation concerning cost containment such as
proliferation of new programs, program duplication and under-enrolled programs. He expressed the need to look at both sides
of the equation when looking to raise tuition. The Board of Governors and the Department of
Higher Education is very anxious to work with
L. McHugh stated that the units need more flexibility in the tuition policy and maybe “deregulate” is too strong a word. He noted that if public funding is curtailed by legislative action, the units have no alternative but to address the issue of tuition. He agreed that there needs to be some authoritative way to review programs. He believes that the system has been remiss in looking at duplication of programs, and this is an area that should be looked at by the Board of Governors.
L. Zollo reported that the Community-Technical College System eliminated 18 programs and approved two at their most recent Board of Trustees meeting.
Chairman Meotti reported that he would like to fine tune the proposal to include under-enrolled programs and the integration of support of functions at the system level.
Commissioner Lewis stated that the Board of Governors would like a recommendation from the Tuition Policy Review Committee (TPRC) by June 18th. She suggested that each unit review the recommendations and put forth their questions and comments in written form so that Board members can confer with Chief Executive Officers prior to the next TPRC meeting, which will take place in early June. It was further noted that UConn representation needs to be present at the next TPRC.
3. Adjournment
The meeting was adjourned at
Respectfully submitted,
Secretary
/lml