DARTMOUTH – The board of trustees for the University of Massachusetts system today approved a 3.1-percent increase in student charges for the 2008-2009 school year.

By comparison, the school noted, the Northeast region’s fourth-quarter inflation rate – based on the federal government’s Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) for urban areas – was 3.6 percent. The planned increase is also “substantially lower” than those expected at other public colleges and universities, UMass said in its announcement.

“For the fifth year in a row, we’ve met our goal of limiting student-charge increases to a rate lower than inflation,” UMass President Jack M. Wilson said in a statement. “These efforts, combined with our success in increasing student financial aid, continue to make academic excellence affordable for Massachusetts students and their families.”

Over the past five years, UMass has seen financial aid from all sources rise 83.3 percent, to $473 million in fiscal 2008. Over the same period, the university’s own support to student aid has nearly tripled, rising $50 million to $85 million this year, the trustees noted.

Today’s vote, during a trustees’ meeting at UMass-Dartmouth, affirmed the fee schedule approved March 5 by the trustees’ finance panel. (READ MORE) Wilson and the university’s chancellors have pledged that 20 percent of the increase in student charges will be directed to student financial aid, the trustees noted.

Tuition and fees for in-state undergraduates next year will average $10,232 at UMass-Amherst, $9,111 at UMass-Boston, $8,858 at UMass-Dartmouth and $9,006 at UMass-Lowell, the university said. Their total cost including room and board – at those locations that offer on-campus housing – is estimated at $18,356 for UMass students in Amherst, $18,286 in Dartmouth and $16,525 in Lowell.

“As the cost of attending public colleges has risen 7 percent over the past five years, the cost of attending UMass has increased by only 3.4 percent,” said Robert J. Manning, chairman of the board of trustees. “We consider this year’s increase to be modest but significant in terms of enhancing academic quality on all five campuses.”

For additional information about the University of Massachusetts and its programs, visit www.massachusetts.edu.