It is estimated that the $300-per-student increase would be on top of the $350 to $500 increase approved by the board in December. The rise in student fees would affect 58,000 students and raise the tuition from $5,200 to $6,000.
According to The Boston Globe, UMass-Amherst is considering the elimination of the foreign-language department for thousands of students.
One proposal is to merge all of the different language departments into one. Another is to allow students to fulfill the foreign-language requirement by passing a foreign-language proficiency test.
"Everything is on the table," Kay Scanlan, assistant vice chancellor for communications and marketing told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. "We will merge, we will consolidate, we will eliminate. Some programs may be eliminated, not just academic programs. We have already eliminated child care and the public safety force."
In December, the Trustees voted to cut 275 jobs, some of which were layoffs and others that were unfilled positions that have since been eliminated.
The Amherst campus will lose 160 jobs by June, with 95 layoffs announced in January.
"This is the worst financial crisis in 30 years," Ernest May, head of the UMass-Amherst faculty senate told the Daily Hampshire Gazette. "Basically, our problems are of such a magnitude that it requires reinventing the entire University."
According to University officials, the increase in student fees is necessary to pay for capital improvements and rising food and utility prices and to cover pay raises.
"UMass is going to survive and ultimately prosper. It will affect the Five Colleges in terms of new projects," said President Tom Gerety.