It’s going to cost more money to attend UMass Boston next semester – $350 more for full-time students. The increase, which will come in the form of a “one-time only” Curriculum Trust Fund support fee, was approved by the UMass Board of Trustees at an emergency meeting held on December 10.

The move was in response to a $25.5 million dollar cut in the UMass system-wide budget for Fiscal Year 2002 approved last week by the by the Massachusetts State Legislature.

In recommending the fee increase, UMass President William Bulger said it was “critical to maintain all that has been achieved at the University of Massachusetts.” He also acknowledged that move “would bring pain to our campuses,” and called on the chancellors of all five UMass campuses to put into place “the spending reductions needed to restore fiscal stability.”

The reduced appropriation, along with a $6 million cut in the budget for university libraries, leaves UMB approximately $5 million short of anticipated revenue for the remainder of the fiscal year.

The fee increase is expected to raise between $2.5 million to $3 million of this short fall. (Fees are returned directly to the university from which they are raised, while tuition goes into the system-wide fund.) In at