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The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system is offering employee buyouts and raising tuition in response to a $140 million budget deficit, CT Insider reported.
About 550 employees who are age 60 or older and have worked for the state for at least 10 years will be eligible for the buyouts, according to a Board of Regents report. If half of those eligible accept and no positions are refilled, the system will save $45.9 million. The buyout plan is pending union approval.
According to the CT Mirror, representatives of the Connecticut State chapter of the American Association of University Professors have expressed concerns about the offer, fearing that students would be harmed.
“We want serious guarantees that positions vacated by retirees will be refilled,” a letter from AAUP chapter leadership said.
The offer comes about a month after the system’s Board of Regents approved a 5 percent tuition increase for all six colleges, which will go into effect next fall. The CSCU system does not include the University of Connecticut.
Students and staff have protested program cuts and tuition hikes, but CSCU officials say they are running out of options given the system’s budget shortfall. After the state budget failed to supplement the loss of federal pandemic-relief funds, which sustained the system the year prior, there was little to no choice, they say.
“The system is trying to be creative in taking every step we can to mitigate our budget deficit,” CSCU spokesperson Adam Joseph told CT Insider. “This is another tool available to us to reduce costs and bring our budget into balance.”
