Recently, the Connecticut state legislature announced a major reduction in funding for the University of Connecticut. In response, university administration is planning a 15-19% budget cut, which has very significant implications for UConn (this could mean as much as one-fifth of the budget disappearing). Faculty, graduate students, post-docs, and undergrads alike are worried about what this means for academic programs at UConn. I spoke with three graduate students to share their perspectives on the potential implications of these massive cuts, all of whom are worried about the quality of education in the coming years.
background
From what we know, the Connecticut state legislature is phasing out the temporary funding it has been giving to UConn. To make up for these costs, UConn will be putting through a five-year plan that includes a permanent 15% reduction in spending and a request for $47.3 million in state funds for the 2025 fiscal year. This week, UConn President Radenka Maric posted a message in UConn Today explaining that shortfalls for the next fiscal year remain at $70 million for UConn. She hopes to work with the state to make up for these costs and mentions the request for $47.3 million in state funding. Staff, faculty, and students feel blindsided by all of this, especially considering that the state has run a surplus this year. It feels like there is no reason for this to be happening.
potential implications
A 15% cut across the board (all departments!) could mean an overall lower quality in education offered by the university. Grace Easterly, a graduate student and the president of the Graduate Employee & Postdoc Union, worries that graduate students will be heavily impacted by the cuts. This would mean fewer graduate positions available, fewer resources for conferences, research, and teaching assistantships, and finally, graduate programs entirely could be eliminated in the next two to three years. In speaking with Margaret Bugingo, a graduate student and Educational Program Coordinator of the UConn Writing Center, she expressed to me that she is worried about her own position and future graduate assistantships.
“I don’t even know if my job is safe.”
Margaret Bugingo, Educational Program Coordinator of the UConn Writing Center
Mckenzie Bergan, a third-year PhD student and president of the English Graduate Student Association, has similar fears and has already seen some of the consequences play out. She explained to me that without warning, CLAS took $189,000 out of the English department account, leaving them with nothing. Until July 1, they have no money for their operating budget, first-year writing budget, creative writing, and speaker funds. Mckenzie is especially concerned given that they’ve already booked their first-year writing conference in April, which will cost thousands of dollars they no longer have. As a steward for the graduate employee union, she is also concerned about what these cuts could mean for the labor conditions guaranteed by their union contract. They negotiated that full-time graduate assistants would work 20 hours a week, but if class sizes, course loads, and research expectations increase, the university could be in violation of its contract with graduate students.
for students
Grace says there are three ways undergraduate students could be affected:
- Fewer class offerings.
- Bigger class sizes.
- Less instructor attention.
This impacts undergraduate students severely — with fewer graduate positions, there are fewer instructors to teach intro-level courses, resulting in fewer offerings and bigger class sizes. With this, instructors will be stretched extremely thin and will not have much time to commit to individual students (fewer one-on-one help and personal connections) — which could make it harder for students to find opportunities or letters of recommendation.
Ultimately, the cuts will not affect all students proportionately. Grace also pointed out that there could be fewer academic resources and student job opportunities. The university becomes less equitable when academic resources are cut. Additionally, this would hit international graduate students really hard. If their funding gets cut, this could affect their ability to have a visa because they won’t be able to work anywhere else (thinking about summers specifically). It’s important to note that while academics will be taking a major hit, athletics will not be impacted at all by the budget cuts.
Altogether, this would greatly decline the quality of education students pay thousands of dollars for at UConn, especially as an R1 institution. UConn’s future reputation is at stake.
what is being done?
UConn faculty and UConn graduate student workers and postdocs have both written open letters to the UConn administration expressing their concerns over the proposed budget cuts. On Jan. 23, professors and students came together on Fairfield Way to protest. On Jan. 24, UConn administrators held a virtual town hall and on Feb. 7, the University Senate held a meeting to address concerns over the budget cuts. Right now, the focus is on advocating on both levels: the state and UConn. The state needs to fully fund UConn and UConn needs to factor workers into their new plan.
Faculty and students are not staying quiet about what is going on. 431 graduate students signed the open letter to President Maric and delivered it to her office. Grace says people are fired up and even though graduate students and programs are the easiest to cut, they are still fighting for their rights. She believes right now is a really important opportunity for everyone to come together to advocate for a better UConn.
big picture
These severe cuts in front of us feel like a slap in the face for public education. If Connecticut can’t give funding to its biggest public university — which also contributes billions to the state’s economy — what does this mean for public education as an institution? Looking at the current political climate in the United States, there seems to be a shift away from prioritizing public education. With smaller graduate programs on the chopping block, it’s becoming more clear that education is no longer for learning: it’s now just about job training and making money. No matter the subject, learning will always be important. We need critical thinking skills now more than ever. I hope that UConn realizes that at the end of the day, its function is to provide quality education. By cutting the education budget and not athletics, they are telling us that they do not prioritize education first. But like Grace said, right now is a pivotal moment for us to come together and make sure this doesn’t happen.
For more resources, check out this document put together by the faculty union or this handout from the joint labor coalition.