Ill-timed tuition increase for UMass - Eagle Tribune

If ever there was a year for the University of Massachusetts budget writers to sharpen their pencils and find a way to work the numbers without a tuition increase, this was it. Alas, the trustees have adopted a 2 1/2 percent hike for the coming year, which the university system says will average about $350 extra per student. It’s not an inordinate increase, certainly, but even the gesture at this point portrays a university leadership that is tone deaf to public image and, more importantly, the financial shape of its students. It’s been a little more than two months since the ink dried on UMass’ $75 million deal to acquire the assets of the failed Mount Ida College, appending the 72-acre campus in Newton to the UMass Amherst campus 80 miles away. Though timely for a collapsing liberal arts college, news of the deal was a dud over at UMass Boston, which has faced more than its share of problems with infrastructure and finances. http://www.eagletribune.com/opinion/ill-timed-tuition-increase-for-umass/article_a1b7f0a6-58a5-5bd4-8328-04a362867ce2.html