By Paul Tuthill
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Boston, MA – The cost to attend the University of Massachusetts would go up next year by an average of more than 800 dollars under a plan given preliminary approval on Wednesday. It would be the latest in a series of fee increases as state funding for the university has been reduced. WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.
The UMass Board of Trustees Committee on Administration and Finance approved a 7 and a half percent fee increase. The full board of trustees , which has historically endorsed committee recommendations, will take up the proposal next Wednesday.
UMass is facing a 54 million dollar budget gap as a result of the end of the federal stimulus program and an expected reduction in state funding, according to university spokesman Robert Connolly..
Trustee Victor Woolridge of Springfield, who chairs the finance panel said in a statement after today's meeting that was..qoute little choice.. other than to increase mandatory student fees by 7 and ahalf percent and ask the campuses to make further cuts.
Connolly said the plan was proposed by President Jack Wilson in collaboration with the chancellors from the five campus system.
Ben Taylor, a senior at UMass Amherst called the fee increase..substantial.
If the fee hike is given final approval , as expected, tuition and fees for in-state undergraduate students will average in the next academic year, 11 thousand, 838 dollars, up from 11 thousand 12 dollars according to a fact sheet from the university. Factoring in room and board at the UMass Amherst campus, the total bill would be 22 thousand 124 dollars, an increase of nearly 16 hundred dollars.
Bob Giannino-Racine, is the ceo of ACCESS..a non profit that provides college affordability counciling to high school students in Boston and Springfield.
Sixty one percent of undergraduates students at UMass this year qualified for need based financial aid, including some from families with six figure incomes, according to a university spokesman.