Norwich — The president of the governing system that oversees the state’s community colleges and regional state universities made his case to Three Rivers Community College for the restructuring plan that he says will help the system out of a multi-million-dollar deficit without affecting services for students.

The Board of Regents for Higher Education adopted a tentative set of plans earlier this month that would raise tuition, consolidate the 12 publicly funded community colleges under a central management system and eliminate administrative positions.

Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system President Mark Ojakian estimated the centralization would save the system $28 million, and other measures to share purchasing agreements, information technology and human resources across the system’s 17 colleges and universities would save an additional $13 million.

The changes will be necessary to keep resources for students untouched and to avoid closing one or more of the state’s community colleges, he said.

“We’re not going to get more money,” he said. “As hard as we advocate, we are going to continue to lose state support.”

Ojakian has said the proposed changes, collectively titled "Students First," are necessary in the face of declining enrollment across the system, cuts to state funding and what he called a "structural deficit."

"Every year, as a system, our expenses far exceed our revenue," he said to a crowd at Three Rivers’ New London Turnpike campus during a two-hour meeting Wednesday afternoon.

Ojakian is near the end of a monthlong "listening tour" of the system's campuses to collect input on the changes. He came to Three Rivers on Wednesday from a stop at Quinebaug Valley Community College in Killingly, and will continue the tour this week.

The 17 schools, including community colleges and regional state universities like Eastern Connecticut State University, were combined in 2011 into the Connecticut State Colleges and Universities system.

The state legislature includes a block grant for the system in its biennial budget, which makes up a bulk of the system's funding along with student tuition and fees. The system, which is separate from the University of Connecticut and its campuses, faces a $35 million deficit this year and is projecting a larger one next year.

Faculty members and union representatives at the schools have greeted the suggestions put forward by Ojakian and the Board of Regents with skepticism, calling deliberations over the proposals “essentially clandestine” in a statement after the board’s vote.

Many at Three Rivers repeated concerns over the lack of details in the plan. One art teacher said she was concerned her students would be unable to afford their classes with the proposed 2.5 percent tuition hike plus increased studio use fees. A financial aid office worker asked about implications for the system for distributing aid to students. A student asked about continued support for fellow transgender students, and others asked how the plan would affect student government.

Ojakian didn’t reveal many specifics in response, arguing that the restructuring proposal was kept broad at first because he hoped to gather input from faculty, staff and students across the 17 colleges while the details are being developed. The resolution the Board of Regents adopted calls for Ojakian to create a plan for consolidating the community college operations into a centralized office by July 1.

He said the approach to restructuring was the first hard look at how to streamline the CSCU system since the 12 community colleges, four regional state universities and one online college were merged in 2011.

“Year after year after year ... the revenue from the state has declined, and people have chosen to conduct business as usual,” he said. “There really hasn’t been an open conversation to make the most of being a system ... and to deal with those issues.”

Frederick-Douglas Knowles II, an associate professor of English at Three Rivers, said after the meeting Wednesday that it was a "good opportunity" for faculty and staff members to hear directly from Ojakian.

"He didn't have to," Knowles said. "He could have easily sat up at the state office and passed down memos."

m.shanahan@theday.com