A 2.75% increase to the lowest housing rate was proposed alongside a tuition freeze during a budget town hall for the 2026-27 academic year on Wednesday, Nov. 19.
The interim vice president for finance, Reka Wrynn, presented the fee proposal for the University of Connecticut virtually on Wednesday and in-person at the Konover Auditorium on Thursday, Nov. 20. Both meetings had a small turnout of less than 10 students.
“We are not planning to propose an increase to tuition for the second year in a row, so that we can ensure that UConn remains an economic value for our students and their families,” said Wrynn.
The proposal comes with what Wrynn said were minimal increases on other fees.
Mandatory fees, as opposed to tuition, are the rates proposed to increase next academic year, according to the meeting slides. Under this plan, students will pay more for Student Health and Wellness, infrastructure maintenance, transit, technology and student activity fees.
The technology fee is the largest potential increase in mandatory fees, with an extra $84 allocated for high-tech technology in classrooms, Blackboard service, Microsoft 365, wireless connectivity across campus and other IT needs, according to Wrynn.
“We have received tremendous feedback about this program,” Wrynn said about the technology fee.
Wrynn added that technology ranked highest among students who rated the importance of university operations in a survey sent on Aug. 25.
The infrastructure maintenance fee received the second highest proposed increase of $68, which Wrynn said will address the current $1.55 billion UConn has in deferred maintenance.
“We’re doing our best to try and bring that number down. [UConn doesn’t] have a crystal ball yet to know exactly what that will look like next year,” Wrynn said.
Eric Kruger, the vice president for facility services and university planning, said the infrastructure maintenance fee contributes $12 to $15 million towards deferred maintenance and other projects.
“We do chip away at that $1.55 billion dollar deferred maintenance need,” Kruger said.
Kruger said keeping up with aging infrastructure is “not an uncommon problem” for universities.
Preventative maintenance funded by the fee will help decrease operation expenses, according to the meeting slides.
An increase to the transportation fee comes after the contract between UConn and Windham Regional Transit District was raised by inflation and the rising cost for bus drivers, according to the presentation. Wrynn said regional students will see a less drastic change of $12 instead of $42 under the plan because regional campuses receive less service.
Housing was among the largest budget increases with a 2.75% proposed raise to the lowest cost plan, Rate 1, according to the town hall. The cheapest plan will grow $222 with a final cost of $8,288 if the budget is passed.
The only change to housing rates included in the proposal was raising the cheapest rate. Changes to the other, more expensive, housing rates are currently unclear, according to Vice President of Student Life and Enrollment Nathan Fuerst.
“It’s an ongoing process of looking at the rate schedule and adjusting rates to align with amenities,” said Fuerst when asked about other potential housing rate increases.
Wrynn added that the 2.75% adjustment is below the overall inflation surrounding the housing market.
While only one housing plan increase was mentioned during the meeting, all the dining rates are proposed to increase under the budget.
The cheapest “custom plan” is proposed to increase $176 for a total of $6,538. The “value plan” in the middle of the three choices has a $186 increase for a total of $6,896, according to the meeting slides.
The fee proposal reserved the highest increase of $194 for the “ultimate plan” which is the most expensive option. If the budget passes, the plan would go from $7,028 to $7,222.
The general university fee was the only mandatory fee to remain unchanged according to the fee proposal. It is the largest bill UConn mandates and covers a wide variety of campus services like the marching band, cultural centers, Department of Student Activities and more.
The board of trustees will meet on Dec. 3 to review and approve the budget proposal for the academic year 2026-27. Students can email budget@uconn.edu with any questions and input that they have about the budget proposal.
This article was corrected on Nov. 25 to clarify Kruger’s comments on deferred maintenance.