Provost against tuition rate reform

Peter Nicholls, the provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, recently submitted written testimony against a proposed state law that would change how public universities in Connecticut modify their tuition rates.

"When one assesses our phenomenal enrollment growth...it is clear that the university's Board of Trustees has managed its pricing, financial aid, academic and student life policies well. Given this success and the university's commitment to affordability, access and quality as well as the very public and open process in which it sets tuition, we hope that the committee will conclude that our current method of setting tuition … does not need to be modified," Nicholls wrote. 

The proposed legislation – Senate Bill 329, An Act Concerning Student Tuition at Public Colleges – mandates that the Board of Trustees notify the joint standing committee of the General Assembly when they propose to change the tuition rate. It also requires that the board provide the committee with "reasonable" time to comment on any tuition changes prior to the board's vote.

Nicholls said that the current tuition setting process is already open and public.

"It is important to note that prior to voting on tuition rates at its last meeting in February, the board heard 40 minutes of spirited comments from students, faculty and the general public on the issue," he wrote.

"We do not support modifications to the process," said Christine McGrath, a 5th-semester political science major and USG external affairs deputy to state affairs. "The process is very transparent."

Nina Hunter, a 5th-semester political science major and head of the legislative committee for the Student Coalition on Reprioritizing Education (SCORE), said that the university only gave about 10 days' notice before the last meeting on the tuition increases.

"We didn't get enough time to look at the facts and formulate an opinion," Hunter said. "Days is not a reasonable amount of time."

Hunter also said that SCORE would like the university administration to make public the information that they send to the joint standing committee.

To address concerns over the lack of state involvement in university affairs, Nicholls said that the state government is currently involved in the tuition-setting process.

"The governor serves as the ex-offico president of the board and she appoints 12 board members that are approved by the General Assembly," he wrote.

Nicholls was joined by Richard Gray, UConn's vice president and chief financial officer. David G. Carter, chancellor of the Connecticut State University System, which is a separate university system from UConn, also submitted testimony against the bill.

Senate Bill 329 was referred to the Joint Committee on Higher Education and Employment Advancement on Feb. 25. On March 16, the requirement that the state committee have time to comment prior to the board's vote was removed and the language requiring that the board notify the committee "whenever the board proposes a vote on reduction, increase, or maintenance of fees for tuition " was changed to the requirement that the board notify the state committee "immediately upon the publication of the board's agenda for any meeting at which the board will consider a reduction, increase or maintenance of the fees for tuition."

The Office of Legislative Research and Office of Fiscal Analysis, a bipartisan office, is currently reviewing the proposed legislation. It has a deadline of 5 p.m. Monday to add its input on the raised bill, according to the assembly's website.