BOSTON — University of Massachusetts students working this summer to pay for college could face a higher financial mountain to climb in the fall.
After freezing tuition for two straight years and then increasing it 5 percent last year, UMass appears poised to raise tuition and fees by rates that far exceed growth in inflation and personal income.
According to UMass President Marty Meehan, tuition and fees across the five-campus university system could grow by between 5 percent and 8 percent.
“I think it’s going to look about the same as it is for the state universities,” Meehan told Boston Herald Radio on Friday, a day after House and Senate fiscal 2017 budget negotiators recommended the lower of two potential UMass appropriations, which strongly influence university finances and student bills.
Meehan told members of the House and Senate Ways and Means committees in February that UMass officials “would like very much to keep tuition increases to no more than inflation.” In May he predicted a “reasonable” increase. But barring an unforeseeable development, a larger increase appears likely.
On Friday, Meehan said state universities had set tuition and fees for the fall, with Bridgewater State University agreeing to a 7.8 percent increase and students at Salem State University and Westfield State University facing 5.2 percent increases in attendance costs.
“My guess is that we’ll be somewhere in that same range,” said Meehan.
Gov. Charlie Baker is reviewing the $39.15 billion state budget and will send back portions of it with vetoes and amendments, but may not add spending to the bill.