UMass board approves 3.1% tuition increase

March 19, 2008 01:34 PM Email| Comments (0)| Text size – +

By Peter Schworm, Globe Staff

The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees today approved a 3.1 percent increase in student charges for the next academic year, raising the average cost at the system's four undergraduate universities for in-state students by $288, from $9,261 to $9,549.

The vote, taken at the board's meeting at UMass-Dartmouth, marks the fifth consecutive year the public system has held tuition-and-fee increases below the regional inflation rate. It affirms the action taken earlier this month by the board's administration and finance committee.

"For the fifth year in a row, we’ve met our goal of limiting student-charge increases to a rate lower than inflation," University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson said in a statement. "These efforts, combined with our success in increasing student financial aid, continue to make academic excellence affordable for Massachusetts students and their families."

One-fifth of the increase will be directed to financial aid to offset the increase for needy students.

Over the past five years, the cost of attending public universities nationally has risen an average of nearly 7 percent annually, while the cost of attending UMass has risen just 3.4 percent annually, UMass officials said.

The vote sets tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate students at $10,232 at UMass-Amherst, $9,111 at UMass-Boston, $8,858 at UMass-Dartmouth, and $9,006 at UMass-Lowell.

With room and board, the in-state cost of attending the university's residential campuses in 2008-2009 would be: Amherst, $18,346; Dartmouth, $18,286; and Lowell, $16,525. UMass-Boston does not have campus housing for students.

Wilson also said that the system has increased its financial aid budget by more than $50 million over the past five years to $85 million.