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DECEMBER 12, 2016
Volume 25, Number 2
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Coming: December 26, 2016
Hartford area decision makers'
most trusted and widely-used
resource guide.
Lists • Economic Forecast • 5 to Watch
Index
■ Reporter's Notebook: PG. 5
■ Week in Review: PG. 6
■ The List: PG. 9
■ Deal Watch: PG. 11
■ Nonprofit Notebook: PG. 12
■ Movers & Shakers: PG. 13
■ Opinion & Commentary: PG. 36
Talent Shortage
Hiring and retaining doctors has been a hurdle for
smaller hospitals for years, but executives say the
challenge has intensified as industry consolidation
creates larger systems with more resources. PG. 3
Hungry Market
From next to no downtown food markets just a
decade ago, Hartford's central business district is
now up to at least five — and counting. PG. 14
FOCUS EDUCATION
Continued on page 8
2016 Best Of Business Awards SPECIAL SECTION: PAGES 19–34 >
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Your guide to the
best of the best
This year we turned to our readers to find the top companies
in more than 75 B2B service categories. Looking for a legal
team? An electrician? An interior decorator for your office?
The readers have spoken and their picks are highlighted
inside. Turn to page 19 to find out who won!
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Cross-Border
Recruitment
CT colleges fill empty seats by luring out-of-state students with tuition breaks
By Patricia Daddona
pdaddona@HartfordBusiness.com
W
estfield, Mass., resident Ezra Bloom
is taking a one-year advanced man-
ufacturing certificate program at
Asnuntuck Community College this year, and
counting on it to land him an in-demand job.
A deciding factor in choosing Enfield-based
Asnuntuck over schools in his home state,
besides the academics itself, is the tuition break
the 31-year-old is getting — an in-state rate of
$2,500 per semester instead of an out-of-state
rate of $3,500, including both tuition and fees.
Across the border in Massachusetts,
Springfield Technical Community College
charges about $4,000 a semester for a com-
parable two-year program. Asnuntuck's in-
state tuition "is significantly cheaper, so it's
certainly beneficial for me," Bloom said.
Asnuntuck is one of two Connecticut col-
leges dangling in-state tuition to out-of-state
Asnuntuck Community College student Ezra Bloom works with Advanced
Manufacturing Technology Center instructor Tam Nguyen. Bloom is
taking advantage of the college's new promotion, which allows
Bay State students to pay in-state Connecticut tuition rates.
