UConn requests $96 million in state supplemental funds 

The University of Connecticut is requesting $96 million in funding from the state for the upcoming fiscal year to supplement the school’s budget shortfall. 

Jeffrey Geoghegan, the executive vice president for finance and chief financial officer of UConn, said that if fulfilled, their request would offset UConn’s forecasted loss for the 2025 fiscal year, including almost $23 million in mitigation efforts and operating cost reductions. 

“That request of $96 million would fully cover all of the mitigation plans that we’re looking at right now,” Geoghegan said. “So when we do have the conversations, and we go down to Hartford to talk with the legislature, the discussion is about the full $96 million.” 

Geoghegan explained that the amount they requested was chosen to achieve a “break-even cash flow.” 

“We take all of the revenue sources of the cash coming in, subtract all of the payments that we have for the cash going out, and that started at a base of a $70 million loss,” he said. 

According to Geoghegan, the $70 million loss coupled with statewide renegotiation for state employee wages led to the total forecasted loss of $96 million that UConn is requesting from the state. He said that if the state fulfilled the request, it would alleviate the next fiscal year’s concerns and buy the school more time to adjust their budget plan. 

“Unless it’s a permanent increase to our budget, it’ll just kind of kick the can down the road, and we will have to revisit that five-year plan again next year,” Geoghegan said. 

Geoghegan said that the school would most likely hear from the Appropriations Committee this week. After the committee’s suggestions were released, Geoghegan said there would be a few more weeks of reconciling the suggestions with the governor’s office and legislators before a decision is made. 

“I wouldn’t expect to know the final number till the last week of April, first week of May,” he said. 

If UConn does not get the full funding that they are requesting, Geoghegan said that UConn would continue plans to cut ledger-2 funding. 

“Best case scenario is we get to defer those conversations for another year, because it’s been funded by the state. And, you know, worst case scenario, we have to implement everything right away,” Geoghegan said. “More likely than not, it might fall somewhere in between.” 

Geoghegan said that if the school only received a portion of the $96 million, the school would try to generate more revenue through the UConn Foundation and other revenue initiatives. 

According to Director of Operating Budget Kelly Wihbey, the Ledger-2 cuts will come out of operational administrative units as well as academic departments, if the cuts happen this year. Geoghegan said that UConn will present its final budget plan around mid to late June. 

“Any aspect where we can actually cover that reduction with new revenue is goal number one. And then after that, of course, everything else, we’re looking at the expenses, and overall staffing levels and things like that,” he said. 

Geoghegan said that even though there is a lot of support for public education funding, the state has to balance the interests of other educational institutions, such as other Connecticut state universities and the K-12 system. 

“There does seem to be a lot of support that is around for UConn and UConn Health so the university in total, but we were one of many that are asking for additional funds,” Geoghegan said. 

According to Geoghegan, UConn has been having “very good conversations in the legislature.” 

“We do have a lot of support, so we are very hopeful that we’ll get a good positive number when something does come out,” he said.