Despite a surge in applications due to back-to-back national basketball championships, the University of Connecticut will cut staff, events and travel to erase a $134 million budget deficit.

It’s part of a new budget that UConn trustees approved on Wednesday.

Students will not see a tuition increase, but university leaders warned that financial aid programs are in jeopardy because of possible cuts from the federal government.

The Huskies are red hot on the basketball court, leading to a big spike in out-of-state applicants.

"The University of Connecticut is in incredibly high demand,” said Nathan Fuerst, the school’s vice president of enrollment. “We had 64,000 students apply to the university this year."

But school leaders said that it’s not enough to prevent a massive budget shortfall.

“This is difficult,” said UConn Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey Geoghegan. “We have difficult decisions that we need to make.”

To close the deficit, the university will cut spending by 4% across the board. That includes restricting most hiring, encouraging voluntary schedule reductions and reviewing temporary positions.

UConn will also dip into its budget reserves – but that creates its own risks.

“Much of these funds are already committed for specific purposes,” school leaders wrote in a message to the campus community. “Much of these funds are already committed for specific purposes. Using these funds to close short-term deficits will create new financial problems that didn’t exist previously and new unmet needs throughout the institution.”

Who’s to blame? That depends on who you ask.

UConn president Radenka Maric said the new state budget shortchanged higher education.

“Given the gap between UConn's request and the state budget, the university must implement additional to close the shortfall,” she told trustees.

But Gov. Ned Lamont said colleges and universities need to tighten their belts.

“I’ve got a lot of people who said they were shortchanged,” he told reporters on Wednesday. “We got the biggest grant in history for UConn. The problem, of course, is some of that one-time COVID money, they spent on operating expenses, so that put them in a bit of a pickle.”

Under the budget, the state Office of Policy and Management could also cut millions more in rescissions.

“It’s going to be very fluid,” said Geoghegan. “We’re going to have to forecast and reforecast every month as these changes take place and as we continue to move forward.”

For now, tuition is not going up – thanks to all those new students. But fees will rise modestly, and UConn leaders warned that financial aid could be in jeopardy if Congress makes promised cuts.

UConn is ramping up fundraising, but that’s a challenge, too.

Schools now have to pay student-athletes – which bring home championships, attract new students and bring in more money.

“There’s a lot of pain, and there’s a lot of work that has to be accomplished in here to balance it,” said Andy Bessette, vice chair of the UConn Board of Trustees Finance Committee. “And 2027 only gets worse by a lot. And so we have a lot of work to do.”