Federal and State Funding Budget Cuts Create Concern Regarding UConn’s Future

Lamont’s budget plans for the University of Connecticut and its affiliates, includes $234.6 million for fiscal year 2025-26 and $240 million for 2026-27.

The budget is lower than UConn had requested; with the approved budget, UConn would face “significant budget deficits of $84.1 million [to the university] and $79.7 million to UConn Health,” according to UConn President Radenka Maric.

Lamont’s administration defends denying UConn it’s financial requests as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to the Hartford Courant, “all colleges and state agencies were warned that the federal coronavirus grants represented one-time funding.”

This funding deficit will affect other state schools.

Central Connecticut State University will receive $280 million less over the biennium, according to an article by the Hartford Courant.

State American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) President Ed Hawthorn found Lamont’s budget disappointing.

“Cutting public higher education funding means fewer faculty, fewer courses, fewer student services and fewer opportunities,” Hawthorn said.

The uncertainty regarding the budget deficit doesn’t only come from the new state budget. President Donald Trump’s administration continues to make budget cuts that affect UConn.

Officials are concerned that $35 million could be removed from UConn’s medical research as a result of Trump’s budget cuts towards the National Institute of Health’s funding (NIH).

Connecticut State Attorney General William Tong, alongside 21 other attorneys general, are trying to combat these federal cuts. They are participating in a civil lawsuit that is currently seeking to block these cuts from the NIH.

The continued uncertainty with federal funding alongside deficits in state funding, are of concern to many UConn officials going forward.

“In this sense, we are in uncharted water,” Maric said.