UMass Raises Tuition and Fees Starting in Fall 2023
Credit: Image Credit: John Greim / Contributor / LightRocket / Getty Images- Out-of-state tuition is increasing by 3%. Dining plan costs are increasing by 5%.
- Only one trustee opposed the tuition increase. According to him, UMass consistently ranks toward the bottom for state funding.
- Several students protested the tuition increase at the virtual meeting.
Starting in the fall, students at the University of Massachusetts (UMass) will have to pay more to attend classes, live on campus, and eat at the dining hall.
The Massachusetts Daily Collegian, UMass’ independent student newspaper, reported the board of trustees approved several increases April 13 to raise tuition and fees, room and board, and dining hall plans.
Tuition and fees will increase by 2.5% for in-state students and 3% for out-of-state students in the 2023-2024 school year. Housing and dining plans are the biggest changes at a 4% and 5% increase, respectively.
Trustee and UMass alum Adam Lechowicz was the only trustee not to support the tuition increase, according to the Daily Collegian.
“I personally, as an undergrad at UMass, knew many people who dropped out because they couldn’t afford to continue,” Lechowicz said in the Daily Collegian. “Tuition increases are absolutely off the table for me.”
Lechowicz told the Daily Collegian that UMass, which consistently ranks near the bottom for state funding, can only lower education costs with more state funding.
The Daily Collegian reported Ella Prabhakar, a student and secretary of the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts, attended the meeting virtually while in front of the administration building with student protestors holding “less rent, more pay” and “say no to vow of poverty” signs.
“We graduate college, and we are forced to pursue jobs only to pay off the loans we accrued from getting an education,” Prabhakar said. “Massachusetts is among the fastest growing student debt in the country.”
“I would be pursuing the major that I’m passionate about,” Prabhakar said. “I would be able to succeed better in school instead of working to pay off my tuition.”