BOSTON (WHDH) - UMass students across the state will be paying more this year after the board of trustees voted to increase tuition.
University officials said they raised tuition because they were unable to get the state funding they were hoping for. Trustees were supposed to decide on the tuition increase back in June but waited until they got a response from the state on increasing funding. UMass had been asking the state for tens of millions of dollars in additional funding but the state only agreed to a fraction of that.
Tuition increases are now being used to close the $85 million shortfall. On average, in-state students will now have to pay around $756 more. The average student at UMass Amherst currently pays $13,700 a year. This coming academic year, that tuition will rise to $14,500.
“A thousand dollars is a thousand dollars and it’s not something a lot of people can just get easily,” said UMass Amherst sophomore Julianna Murray. “It will be a challenge if it does go up 5 percent.” Murray said she is worried about the amount of loans she will have to pay back after she graduates.
Nearly 70,000 undergraduate and graduate students are enrolled in the UMass system. The tuition increase is expected to generate around $30 million.
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