President Mark Ojakian of Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) has written a letter to all students in the system concerning the state budget. Three Rivers Community College is one of 17 colleges and universities that make up CSCU.

Excerpt from President Ojakian’s letter

Early Saturday morning the Connecticut General Assembly passed a budget that intends to cut approximately $93M from the CSCU system over the next two years.  . . . Our institutions rely on two primary sources of funding; state support and student tuition. The reality we are facing is one of extremely limited options. We would be forced to consider passing on the financial burden to our students through increased tuition and fees. This would have a chilling effect and put higher education out of the reach of even more Connecticut students. . . . I am asking all of you to help me advocate to our state legislators. All of us need to do our part to contact our state legislators and tell them how damaging these cuts would be for our system. Most of all I urge our students to reach out. Students and the families that support them are not numbers on a budget line item. They are residents and taxpayers of our state working extremely hard to pursue higher education.

Read the entire letter and access your legislators’ contact information here.