OFFICE OF FISCAL ANALYSIS
Legislative Office Building, Room 5200
Hartford, CT 06106 (860) 240-0200
http://www.cga.ct.gov/ofa
HB-6402
AN ACT CONCERNING HIGHER EDUCATION.
As Amended by House "A" (LCO 9688)
House Calendar No.: 234
Primary Analyst: JS 6/2/21
Contributing Analyst(s):
OFA Fiscal Note
State Impact:
Agency Affected Fund-Effect FY 22 $ FY 23 $
Board of Regents for Higher
Education
Various - Revenue
Loss
95,000 to
140,000
95,000 to
140,000
Note: Various=Various
Municipal Impact: None
Explanation
The bill, which makes various changes regarding higher education,
results in an annual revenue loss to the Board of Regents' Charter Oak
State College, totaling approximately $95,000 to $140,000 annually
beginning in FY 22, associated with prohibiting any constituent unit
institution from charging a graduation fee. The other components of
the bill are not anticipated to result in a fiscal impact to the state or
municipalities.
The graduation fee prohibition in Sections 9-12 affects only Charter
Oak State College within the Board of Regents as the other units do not
charge a graduation fee. The annual revenue loss to the Board of
Regents is estimated to be $95,000 to $140,000 based on Charter Oak's
recent numbers of students who have been charged the fee, a
graduation fee of $225 in FY 22 (unchanged in recent years), and
enrollment levels. Since Charter Oak enrollment has been volatile, the
estimate reflects a range of 429 to 619 students paying the graduation
fee, which is ten percent lower and higher than recent numbers of 2021HB-06402-R01-FN.DOCX Page 2 of 2
students who have paid the fee.
The elimination of the Charter Oak graduation fee results in
approximately a 13 to 20 percent reduction in the college's projected
fee revenue, or a total revenue reduction of 0.5 to 1 percent.
House "A" eliminates the original bill and its associated fiscal
impact, and results in the impact described above.
The Out Years
The annualized ongoing fiscal impact identified above would
continue into the future subject to changes in the number of students
pursuing graduation at Charter Oak State College.