The fee increase could be between $587 to $821, up 5-7% from the academic year that just ended.
BOSTON - University of Massachusetts President Jack M. Wilson will recommend a fee increase for students of about 5 to 7 percent for the next academic year to help deal with declining state financing for the campuses, a spokesman said on Friday.
Jack Wilson, the outgoing president of the University of Massachusetts, will recommend a fee increase of about 5 to 7 percent for students for the next academic year.Wilson's decision means that University of Massachusetts students will be joining students at many community colleges and state university campuses in paying higher fees to help foot the bill for state budget cuts and a loss of federal stimulus dollars.
Trustees at Holyoke Community College and Springfield Technical Community College have already voted to approve fee increases for students for the upcoming academic year. Trustees at Westfield State University and Greenfield Community College might vote on fee increases during meetings in June.
During this past year at the university's Amherst campus, in-state undergraduates paid $11,732 in tuition and fees. That means the fee increase is likely to be about $587 to $821.
Robert P. Connolly, a spokesman for Wilson, said Wilson's decision is not final. Connolly could not provide a precise number for the fee increase but said it would be "mid single digits" on a percentage basis, somewhere between 5 and 7 percent.
Connolly said state support for the University of Massachusetts dropped from $8,000 per student five years ago to about $6,000. "The implications are pretty clear and somewhat dramatic that the state subsidy declined by that amount," he said.
Rep. Sean F. Curran, D-Springfield, a member of the Committee on Education, said he hears from students about fee increases and that he agrees the fees are too high. "Nobody can be happy with that," Curran said of a fee increase. "These are tough times."
Sen. Stephen Brewer, the budget chief in the Massachusetts Senate, said fee increases for college students stem from a grim budget scenario.Sen. Stephen M. Brewer, D-Barre, chairman of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, said he was not pleased with fee increases for students in higher education.
"You never like that," said Brewer, a 1971 graduate of the Amherst campus. "It's part and parcel of a very grim budget scenario."
In February, Wilson said a fee increase would be needed to help close $54.5 million budget gap for the next fiscal year, but he didn't know then if the increase would be more than a typical 2 to 3 percent hike needed to cover inflation.
The gap was caused largely by the loss of $37.8 million in federal stimulus for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
In the Senate Ways and Means budget for the next fiscal year, the five-campus university system would receive an operating budget of $418 million, the same as the state House of Representatives. The university system received a state budget of $461.8 million this year, including a $424 million state appropriation and the stimulus money.
Wilson's recommendation, developed after consulting with campus chancellors, would first go to the university's Board of Trustees' committee on administration and finance. The committee is meeting June 1 in Boston.
After the committee votes, its own recommendation would go to the full board of trustees on June 8 at the University of Massachusetts at Boston. Trustees would have final say on a fee increase.
In June of last year, trustees for the University of Massachusetts voted to keep for the current academic year a $1,500 fee increase approved in 2009 for students.
During the 2009-10 academic year, the university offset the $1,500 fee increase by providing students with rebates up to $1,100 on a sliding scale, depending on financial need. Because of the state fiscal crisis, no rebate was provided for this past academic year.
