State senators advocated for housing accommodations and new academic programing for the University of Connecticut’s Avery Point campus at a board of trustees meeting on Sept. 17.
Senators Cathy Osten (D), Heather Somers (R), and State Rep. Aundré Bumgardner (D), attended the meeting bringing attention to investment in Avery Point.
“I believe it’s been neglected because it’s on the eastern part of the state and often the eastern part of the state is an afterthought by many administrations, not just this current administration, but many administrations,” Osten said in an interview with the Daily Campus.
Osten serves as the deputy president pro tempore and represents Columbia, Franklin, Hebron, Lebanon, Ledyard, Lisbon, Marlborough, Montville, Norwich and Sprague in Senate District 19.
With Osten’s district bordering District 18, she has worked alongside Somers, working on shoreline east, state tourism and advocacy efforts for the Avery Point campus.
“I started advocating for the campus because it’s an important component in Eastern Connecticut and it is one of the four regional campuses, but UConn Avery Point has been a part of the fabric of Eastern Connecticut for a very long time,” Osten said. “It is a site that has value.”
The Avery Point campus is located on the Long Island Sound. It offers four degrees in English, General Studies, Marine Sciences and Maritime Studies. The regional campus offers graduate programs in several STEM-related fields as stated on its website.
This campus is one of two campuses that do not currently have any on-campus housing options for students.
“Traditionally, Avery Point students have rented housing in the region or commuted from their homes,” UConn Spokesperson Stephanie Reitz said. “However, the availability of rental accommodations in the area has significantly dropped due to strong hiring at local industries, making it more difficult and expensive for Avery Point students to compete for rentals in the past few years.”
The UConn Waterbury campus is the other regional campus that does not have housing directly provided by the university. However, private developers have opened student-oriented housing near the campus, according to Reitz.
Reitz said that housing options at Avery Point are currently being evaluated to see if it is economically feasible. This is in an effort to increase enrollment at the campus and to provide an on-campus living experience for students.
There have been past discussions about building a housing unit for Avery Point dating back to July 2024, according to UConn Today.
UConn issued a “Request for Expressions of Interest” for companies to build and fund a housing building for 150-250 students at the Avery Point campus, as reported by CT Mirror.
The dormitory is highly anticipated by students and state leaders, however there is no estimated timeline in place for available housing at the Avery Point campus, according to Reitz.
Alongside housing, Osten expressed her interest in the campus expanding its undergraduate degree programs to include engineering and energy-based courses to support the Dominion Millstone power plant in the eastern part of the state. She also suggested programs to support tourism locations.
“I’d like to see them do something with business and marketing. The state’s tourism industry, which provides some $8 billion in revenue every year and where every dollar we spend on tourism has a nine to one return on it, is in eastern Connecticut,” Osten said.
While local representatives emphasized the economic value of investing in this regional campus, university leaders focus on the work in progress to strengthen the offerings of Avery Point.
“UConn also has a goal in its Strategic Plan to ensure that students at each regional campus receive academic offerings and student services that provide a full UConn experience, and that they can pursue certain degrees on site if they wish without the necessity of transferring to Storrs,” Reitz said.
The university is developing a strategic plan for each of the regional campuses with plans to present them to the board of trustees on Dec. 3 in the Wilber Cross Reading Room.