The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system's Board of Regents voted near-unanimously Thursday to increase tuition and fees 5 percent across campuses statewide, despite the protests of staff and students who have rallied against the hikes.

The tuition raises, set to take effect in September 2024, come as the system grapples with declining enrollment and a decrease in state funding, tied to the end of pandemic-era federal grant money. The result, administrators say, is a $140 million deficit during the 2025 fiscal year.

In remarks to start the Board of Regents meeting Thursday, CSCU Chancellor Terrence Cheng lamented the tuition increases as "a step we would prefer not to take," but said shortfalls in state funding for the system left little choice.

"The state of Connecticut's biennium budget allocation for CSCU falls significantly short of what is necessary to maintain our existing levels of operation," Cheng said. "We have made great strides — I would dare say incredible, remarkable strides — towards closing our budget deficit, but we aren't quite there yet."

Cheng promised that CSCU administrators would continue to lobby state lawmakers for funding during the upcoming legislative session to "hopefully mitigate any tuition and fee increases."

Ahead of the board's vote, some regents agreed with Cheng's assessment that tuition increases were unfortunate, but necessary. Others questioned if there were alternatives to close CSCU's deficit or if administrators could push harder for more state funding. Ultimately, though, the lone regent to vote against the proposal was New Britain Mayor Erin Stewart, who said the hikes would harm students in her city and elsewhere.

"I understand the financial need," Stewart said. "I just have a very strong feeling that it shouldn't be done on the backs of the students until we have our stuff in order."

The CSCU system includes all the state's public colleges and universities except the University of Connecticut, which is operated separately.

The impending tuition hikes follow a fierce, public fight over state funding for higher education, which culminated this spring in a budget that increased CSCU's block grant allocation, but failed to fully replace expiring federal funds. Officials in Gov. Ned Lamont's administration have urged colleges and universities to "live within its means," while CSCU administrators have blamed the Lamont Administration for negotiating faculty raises, but declining to fund them.

The resulting proposals for program cuts and tuition hikes across CSCU have been deeply unpopular with students and staff, some of whom have publicly protested both the state's budget allocations and proposals from the Board of Regents to address the system's deficit.

During the public comment portion of Thursday's board meeting, nearly a dozen students spoke against the hikes, testifying to what higher tuition would mean to them or to students like them.

"Due to the increasing tuition I may have to pick survival over the dream of finishing my my major," said Rosimar Quinones, a sociology major at Capital Community College. "If you vote on a tuition hike, you will vote on me dropping out."

"I'm unsure if I'm going to be able to afford to finish my education in my last few semesters, as money becomes tighter and tighter," said Sam King, a sociology major at Central Connecticut State. "And this is not an individual experience I've had, as many people I consider friends share the same fear in the upcoming academic year."

Xander Tyler, a senior at Central Connecticut State, slammed Lamont as "a country-club governor" who was sacrificing students' futures, and criticized CSCU administrators and regents for failing to fight harder for funding.

"The fact that this board is going to increase tuition and fees for students is wrong and short-sighted," Tyler said. "What this board will do today, and what you have done with your mitigation plans, is to marginalize the marginalized."

Seth Freeman, president of the union representing community college employees, echoed many of the students' thoughts, rejecting the "disgusting cuts" imposed across the CSCU system, as well as the proposed tuition hikes.

Following public comment, Cheng thanked those who had spoken and again lamented the budget situation.

"We are doing the best that we can," Cheng said. "That may not be good enough for all of you and for us, but I can tell you sincerely that we go to battle every day for our students, for our faculty, for our staff."

In an email Thursday, a Lamont spokesperson said federal pandemic-relief funds were "always intended to be one-time in nature," but that the administration would continue to work with CSCU "to both identify savings and ways to attract additional students."