Tuition will be higher for undergraduates attending University of Maine System schools starting this fall.
The board of trustees approved a 4% tuition hike Monday morning during a meeting at the University of Maine at Fort Kent.
That works out to a roughly $1,000 increase for in-state and Canadian undergraduates, bringing the yearly cost to attend one of the system’s seven campuses to an average of $24,069, including tuition, room and board, and other fees.
It’s among a slate of changes approved as part of the system’s $717.7 million budget for the upcoming academic year. That includes $90.1 million for need-based aid.
The system noted that the increase remains below the inflation rate for the Northeast. In announcing the hike, the system stressed that the newly approved tuition, which accounts for about 40% of its overall revenue, is lower than comparable universities across New England, including the University of New Hampshire and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
“The University of Maine System is proving that transformative public higher education can remain affordable, innovative and high quality even in an increasingly challenging fiscal and demographic environment,” Chancellor Dannel Malloy said in a statement. “Thanks to the hard work of our universities and the support of Governor Mills and the Legislature, this budget maintains the lowest university tuition and fees in New England while continuing to invest in the world-class people, programs and facilities that are essential to our students’ success and economic mobility and the state’s future prosperity.”
