UMass Board Approves 5.8 Percent Tuition Increase

Students across the University of Massachusetts system are facing a 5.8 percent tuition increase next year.

The school's Board of Trustees approved the hike 11-2 for the five-campus system during a meeting in Worcester on Thursday.

The increase will raise tuition by an average of $756 for in-state undergraduate students, the university system said in a statement.

“I believe that in following this course, we will be preserving the quality that the citizens of the Commonwealth need and expect,” UMass President Marty Meehan said in a statement.

A UMass spokesman says the board was forced to approve tuition hikes because the system was unable to secure the level of state funding it had hoped for the new fiscal year. The hike is meant to help reduce the university system's $85 million shortfall by a quarter.