Despite being the state’s flagship university, the University of Connecticut is facing a projected $134 million budget deficit by 2026. Jeffrey Ogbar, former president of UConn’s chapter of the American Association of University Professors, says while the roots of the crisis lay in state and federal budget cuts, there are other factors as well.
Small endowment, big problem
The discontinuation of federal pandemic relief funds means UConn stands to lose another $28 million to $30 million as of 2026. That’s a significant loss of funding for an institution that’s already saddled with a relatively shallow war chest.
“The thing that a lot of people are not quite familiar with is that while it receives a lot of money from the state, the University of Connecticut has a very paltry endowment,” Ogbar said.
He contrasted UConn’s financial reserves with those of peer institutions.
“A university like the flagship University of Virginia has over $14 billion in its endowment. The University of Michigan has even a larger endowment, I think, upwards toward $20 billion,” Ogbar said. “The University of Connecticut has under a billion.”
Ogbar also cited diminishing state support as a critical factor.
“Simultaneously, there has been a 34% decrease in block grant from the state of Connecticut to the university since 2010,” he said. “So the state has essentially defunded UConn.”
Federal research cuts loom
Asked about the Trump administration's proposed 15% federal indirect cost rate cap,currently held up by a judge’s ruling, Ogbar warned that its impact could be severe.
“Many universities across the United States depend on federal research dollars,” Ogbar said. “And just for listeners to know, federal research dollars help us understand everything from cancer research to the psychological development of children, secondhand smoke, clean air, soil and water. So much of what we think of as transformative research … has been driven by support from the federal government.”
“To pull that back is to fundamentally destabilize and divert resources from the critical mission of universities in so many different arenas,” Ogbar said. “So yes, it's a very disturbing and frightening trend we've seen from the federal government since January.”
A shrinking dollar, a growing burden
Speaking about Connecticut’s new biennial state budget completed this year, Gov. Ned Lamont said “our budget proposal includes the largest block grant ever proposed for UConn in state history.”
Ogbar also pushed back on the notion that state funding for higher education is adequate, especially with the pace of inflation.
“People can say, ‘well, you know, the state has given more money.’ But $1,000 today is not worth what $999 might have been worth 15 years ago,” he said. “So yeah, you might go up an extra dollar. But of course, in real dollars, we've had a significant decrease.”
He added: “We can scientifically show that the University of Connecticut has been not just underfunded—we have been defunded. That's a term I think we should use more freely.”
Ogbar noted that faculty salaries have lost ground over time.
“Since 2010, UConn faculty salaries have, in fact, decreased relative to Connecticut workers in general and have decreased in relation to 19 of 20 peer institutions.”
Students and families are shouldering more of the cost, he said.
“We’re paying over 116% more for tuition than in the year 2000—we’re talking about adjusted for inflation,” he said. “People are paying twice as much as they were in the last 25 years.”
The bigger picture for Connecticut
Ogbar argued that defunding has consequences far beyond campus.
“There’s a greater burden on the people of Connecticut. There’s a greater burden on the faculty members to recruit and retain faculty members, who could definitely get better salaries other places,” he said.
“These are fundamental concerns that we have when we think about what the university means for the state of Connecticut.”
