By Katie Lannan

State House News Service

WORCESTER — The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees on Friday approved a 2.5 percent tuition hike for in-state undergraduates, raising the per student cost for the coming school year an average of $351.

Out-of-state students will see their tuition rise 3 percent to an average $32,200, or an increase of $938 per student.

Across the Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell campuses, tuition will average $14,363 for in-state undergrads, according to UMass. For the 2018 to 2019 school year, in-state undergraduate tuition will range from $13,496 in Dartmouth to $15,406 at the flagship campus in Amherst. It’s set at $13,841 in Boston and $14,710 in Lowell.

The decision marks the fourth straight year tuition has increased for UMass students after a two-year freeze that ended in 2015 with a 5 percent hike. Last year, the board raised tuition by 3 percent.

Zac Bears, executive director of the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts, said this year’s increase is better than in years past but “puts a college education out of reach of thousands more students and families and adds even more debt onto the already massive debt burden forced upon Massachusetts students and families.”

The UMass trustees, who met at the UMass Medical School in Worcester, also approved the university system’s operating budget for this fiscal year, which is projected to be $3.4 billion, a 3.1 percent increase over last year. The budget will increase the system’s direct contributions to financial aid by more than $20 million, UMass said.

UMass President Marty Meehan said the budget “will require us to continue to operate as efficiently as possible and cut costs where appropriate.” He said the tuition hike “allows us to preserve the quality of our academic and research enterprises while minimizing the financial impact on students and their families.” That sentiment was echoed by Board of Trustees Chairman Rob Manning.

School officials say the increases have fallen below the historic rate of inflation for the higher education sector.

Some material from the Associated Press was used in this report.