The vote by trustees keeps, for now, tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates at the Amherst campus at $11,732.
LOWELL – Trustees for the University of Massachusetts on Wednesday voted to keep intact the $1,500 fee increase approved last year for students.
University of Massachusetts President Jack W. Wilson also said he would increase scholarship aid in an attempt to help alleviate the financial hit.
Trustees, as expected, voted to maintain in-state tuition and mandatory fees at current levels for the academic year that starts in September. However, trustees, meeting at the Lowell campus, voted to authorize university campuses to increase fees by up to 3 percent for out-of-state students.
In a statement, Wilson also said the decision to keep in-state tuition and fees at current levels hinges on the university receiving a sufficient amount of state money and federal stimulus funding. If funding falls short, the university would be forced to consider additional spending cuts as well as a possible emergency fee increase, Wilson said.
The university expects to receive some stimulus funding in 2010-2011, but nowhere near the $150 million it received this year and not enough to provide a second year of rebates.
During this most recent academic year, the university provided students with rebates up to $1,100 on a sliding scale, depending on financial need. Some students received no rebate.
Wilson said the vote by trustees to approve his recommendation on student charges was consistent with the university’s focus on keeping academic quality within reach.
“At a time when students are applying to the University of Massachusetts in record numbers, we are working hard to maintain quality and affordability, the very characteristics responsible for this strong surge of interest,” Wilson said in a statement.
Wilson also announced that the university system will increase spending on student financial aid by $12 million to $115 million for the upcoming academic year.
Wilson said the increased financial aid will “provide a significant financial cushion for students and their families” and will help to offset the loss of the one-time tuition and fee rebate the university was able to institute this year because of the infusion of $150 million in federal stimulus funds.
The vote by trustees keeps, for now, tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates at the Amherst campus at $11,732. Of that amount, tuition is $1,714; fees are $10,018. Food and housing is in addition to tuition and fees. Trustees for state, community and university campuses target fees because they retain that money on campus, while tuition money generally goes into the state’s general fund.