Yeah I mean I'm good friends with the state rep from the town I grew up in - i'm out of state now, obviously; but he had some pretty salient points regarding the cuts.
-The reason UConn was first thing on the chopping block is because, well - they're not a state agency. They share almost nothing in common with a state agency. They're not under anywhere near as strict regulation for purchasing and contract negotiations. They have a foundation. They can fundraise. There are federal research grants they can apply for. There are even state research grants they can apply for. They have way more flexibility in terms of their internal and external expenditures and how and why they choose the sources of revenue that they do. If anyone was going to take a deep cut - it was going to be UConn from the start. Because they have ways to make it hurt less.
Someone else pointed it out in this thread - it needs to get out of the state funding mentality and ask more of alumni and figure out ways to grow their endowment, which lags. They've become a dependent - and at the very least no matter where you fall on the issue, UConn hasn't helped their cause in this regard. To be honest, after hearing him out (there were other points) - I get it. Completely, actually.
-The budget actually cut/relaxed almost all the contract/purchasing regulation for UConn. I mean imagine anyone did that at a state agency. People would be apoplectic and understandably so. So they've got - literally - unprecedented freedom in terms of what they can do with purchasing, existing contracts and the like. It's not going to 100% solve their funding problem - but it'll certainly take a significant bite out of it - something that can't be done at state agencies.
-The state aid UConn gets is jointly dispersed to UConn and UConn health. The degree to which one gets hit harder isn't defined, exactly and i didn't pursue it, but the idea that Uconn is taking a $200 million hit just isn't true - or at least the university/educational wing of it.
-The budget actually has *$1 BILLION* in state aid to UConn and UConn Health center over the next two years. That's a $200.1 million reduction to the *anticipated* state aid they would have receive WITHOUT being touched by budget cuts. That's a cut of about 17%. So it's projected 'revenue' from the state, not actual budgeted funds, so it's not entirely honest to call them *budget cuts* even though they are certainly a *funding* cut.
-To say the state hasn't stepped up is farcical. They've done more than their fair share to put UConn in a great spot and are STILL spending *$1 billion* on the university this year. They can't give what they have in the past, but they're still pretty clearly making it a priority.
-They're also overstating their reductions by a lot and Herbst has already pivoted on this a few times. They've been using their FY 2017 original budget as the base - rather than what they actually received in 2017. It's really not fair to NOT compare the actual dollars taxpayers invested last year.
-And political hackery/hatchet is sprinkled on top, too. A lot of legislators on both sides of the aisle, particularly in the western part of the state - were nuclear behind closed doors that UConn blamed low enrollment as a means to not cover an $80,000 budget shortfall at UConn Torrington and close it in 2016. During negotiations this year, they asked for - in an earmark - for $1 million to be appropriated so they could remodel the campus next year. One that doesn't even have their students on it. That's just an atrocious look for the school.
So I dunno. I hate these cuts but I just don't know where they're gonna rip the cash from other than this. Like I loathe this - but they're at where they're at.
