Republicans are demanding that the head of Connecticut State Colleges and Universities resign, following a scathing audit into “inappropriate” spending by leaders at nearly every campus. The money went to things like lavish dinners, concerts, cellphone bills and even dry cleaning.

The bombshell report comes as students are paying higher tuition – and facing cuts in classes and faculty.

Like other students here at Connecticut State Community College’s Norwalk campus, Andrew Hodges has seen his tuition bill go up.

“It’s not affordable,” he said. “Because I have to deal not just with this. I have to deal with my rent and my food.”

But while students pay more, leaders at CSCU have spent lavishly, according to a new audit from State Comptroller Sean Scanlon.

“The things we found ranged from expensive meals to livery services, to room service, to dry cleaning, to improper tickets, to events that were not school-related functions, paying for the cell phone bills and Eversource bills of students,” Scanlon said.

The review looked at 1,031 P-card (state-issued credit card) transactions over three years – just a fraction of the $811,000 in overall receipts. But in that sample alone, CSCU Chancellor Terrence Cheng spent nearly $27,000 – including $19,102 on food and alcohol and $3,754 on hotels. The chancellor also hired a private car service three times even though he has a state vehicle, the comptroller’s office found.

Cheng has previously defended the spending as the cost of doing business in higher education.

“The first thing I would note is that our P-card [state credit card] expenditures generally amount to approximately one-third of one percent of the total system budget, and that ultimately the relationship building, partnership development is a responsibility of the chancellor and several of our officers,” he told Hearst Connecticut Media in October.

But following the report’s release on Wednesday, Cheng said CSCU is making changes.

“These recommendations will support the goal of accountability and transparency across the system and protect taxpayer dollars and student funds,” he said in a statement. “The system has begun to take steps in this direction and over the next 100 days, I’ve instructed my team to implement recommendations to improve compliance and reporting.”

Top Republicans called the report a “black eye for the State of Connecticut” and demanded Cheng’s resignation.

“It is shocking to see that level of abuse,” said Connecticut House GOP leader Vin Candelora (R-North Branford). “To find out that, that money is going toward things like, you know, concert tickets and dinners and alcohol, it’s really just mind-numbing.”

Gov. Ned Lamont, who ordered the review two months ago, stopped short of calling for Cheng to step down.

“A preliminary review of this audit makes it clear that policies regulating spending at higher education institutions need to be strengthened, and the recommendations it contains appear to be sensible and deserve serious consideration,” said David Bednarz, a spokesperson for Lamont. “The public and the students attending CSCU schools deserve complete transparency into how public funds are being utilized.”

Lamont’s fellow Democrats also want changes.

“We are concerned about these findings and the potential misjudgement by leaders who are entrusted to always use state resources responsibly,” the co-chairs of the Legislature’s Higher Education Committee said in a statement. “We will pursue proposals this session to improve accountability within the CSCU system and will consider further action as more information comes to light.”

But it’s not just Cheng. The audit flagged other leaders, too.

In particular, Southern Connecticut State University interim president Dwayne Smith was criticized for spending nearly $10,000 on food and entertainment, and more on dry cleaning and tickets to a Yale University football game. Charter Oak Community College’s president improperly charged half a million dollars in marketing expenses to his state credit card, the report revealed.

“Based on our findings, this is a systemic problem that is impacting the entire CSCU leadership and their staff,” Scanlon said.

Scanlon is urging CSCU to make several key changes:

Scanlon has also referred the case to the state Office of Ethics for further review.

Meantime, students like Hodges are frustrated.

“It’s completely abuse,” said Hodges. “Somebody has to check all these situations and try to stop it.”