UConn fees are rising again. Here’s how much students can expect to pay next fall

The University of Connecticut Board of Trustees approved new fee rates for the 2023-2024 school year Wednesday that will raise annual bills by as much as $646 for some students.

The fee hike, accompanied by an already-scheduled $660 increase in tuition, rounds out UConn’s total cost of attendance to $34,362 for in-state undergraduate students living on the Storrs campus.

In sum, on-campus students at Storrs next fall will pay $1,306 (3.9%) more than they did in 2022-2023. For the class of 2024, the price tag is $3,270 (10.5%) higher than when they entered as freshmen in 2020.

Graduate and undergraduate students will pay an extra $272 in mandatory fees covering infrastructure maintenance, technology, transportation, student activities, and health and wellness costs at the Storrs campus. Housing and dining rates will also increase by $374.

Mandatory fees at UConn’s regional campuses will increase between $142 and $162, and housing costs at UConn Stamford will rise by $298. The board also approved tuition and fee increases at the School of Dental Medicine and price adjustments to specific academic program fees in the Schools of Business, Law, Public Policy and Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning.

Lloyd Blanchard, UConn’s interim vice president for finance and chief financial officer, said raising fees will help the university keep up with increasing costs from inflation, contractual obligations from collective bargaining agreements, and student requests for more services.

“As students demand more services, we want to be able to ask them to help pay for some of those service expansions,” Blanchard said at a Financial Affairs Committee meeting on Tuesday. “In particular, they’ve been asking for additional advising services to help struggling students with their grades during a difficult time, as well as for expansion of mental health services.”

Undergraduate and graduate students who spoke in opposition to the fee increases during the public comment period of Wednesday’s meeting said that rising costs disproportionately impact low-income students. Others accused the university of not doing enough to notify its student population that a new fee proposal was in the works.

President of the UConn Graduate Employee Union Lauren Dougher pointed out the fact that this is the second fee increase the Board of Trustees has voted on in 2022. In April, the university raised its mandatory fees by $268 and room and board by $364.

“Less than eight months have passed since the board of trustees last approved to raise fees,” Dougher said. “Student loan payments have been frozen since 2020, public transportation in Connecticut is free. The national and state governments recognize that we are still dealing with the repercussions of the pandemic, so why is it that UConn doesn’t, and continues to increase fees that exacerbate hardships for their students?”

Dougher said that the fee increases negate the gains Graduate Employee Union workers secured through their most recent collective bargaining agreement. The union’s Vice President Carol Ann Jackson called the fees “unjust and predatory.”

“I literally do not make enough to just pay my bills. It’s hard to believe this is my reality when I hold a master’s degree from the University of Connecticut. It’s harder to believe this is my reality when I work for the University of Connecticut,” said Jackson, who makes $2,656 nine months out of the year as a teaching assistant.

“The university’s proposals do not reflect, value or support [the] students and workers who are still living through the reverberations of a global pandemic and dealing with inflation and consequent rises in the cost of living. While I acknowledge that there are budget concerns facing the university and the state, the financial concerns of GAs [graduate assistants] and students alike must be taken into consideration,” Jackson said.

Blanchard said the university met with student leaders and held one in-person and two virtual town hall meetings to address community concerns.

“The idea that our fee increases are unfair or predatory, I think is inaccurate,” Blanchard said Wednesday. “But the point about how flat fee increases imposes a greater burden on low-income students is a fair one, this is exactly why we increase our financial aid every time we increase our tuition and or student fees.”

In the last five years, UConn’s financial aid contributions rose 43%, totaling $175 million this fiscal year, according to Blanchard.

Board of Trustee members described the fee raise as a last resort to cover rising expenses.

“These fees do not completely cover all of these costs to the university,” Blanchard said. “When we increase fees, what we’re asking is [for] the students to share in whatever the increased cost the university faces.”

Alison Cross can be reached at across@courant.com.