BOSTON — Already slapped with $24.6 million in midyear budget cuts, the University of Massachusetts system could face an 8 percent cut in state funding in the coming fiscal year and UMass officials are eyeing fee increases for students.
Under a "best-case" scenario described by finance officials yesterday to the UMass board of trustees, student fees would be increased by 3.3 percent for both fiscal year 2010 and fiscal year 2011.
A "worst-case" scenario would involve a 10 percent cut in state funding — $467 million this fiscal year — and no fee increases for the two fiscal years, according to Stephen Lenhardt, the university's vice president of management and fiscal affairs. He said the figures were based on preliminary discussions with Patrick administration officials.
The university pulled in $28.9 million this year from increased tuition, fees and enrollment. UMass President Jack Wilson said fee increases in the last six years have been kept below cost-of-living increases.
"We're going to try to keep the fee increases as modest as we can," he said.
Added UMass-Lowell Chancellor Martin Meehan, "We have to see what kind of budget numbers we get."
Earlier this year, trustees approved a 3.1 percent increase in tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates, averaging out to $288 per student across the system's five campuses.
