Officials say that declining enrollment at Connecticut community colleges has increased the system’s deficit to $22 million. That’s a 38% increase since last fall.
In October, the state’s 12 community colleges reported a 15% drop in enrollment and the four regional state universities saw a 5.5% drop.
Since then, enrollment has declined an additional 2.4%, with universities down about 2,000 students and colleges down about 3,600 students.
The system’s Chief Financial Officer Ben Barnes told the state regents board last week that getting people to enroll is going to be "a persistent issue."