Tuition at the University of Maine System’s seven campuses will rise an average of 4.6 percent this fall.

The tuition increase is part of a $398.2 million budget for 2002-03 approved by the University of Maine System board of trustees this week. The budget is up $9.7 million, or 2.5 percent, over this year’s budget of $388.5 million.

Julian Haynes, the system’s executive director for research and policy analysis, said most of the increase is to cover employee health care costs – which are rising 47 percent.

“I don’t think anybody feels positively about tuition hikes, but it’s just an economic necessity,” Haynes said.

Tuition increases will vary by campus.

The annual in-state undergraduate tuition at the flagship campus in Orono will increase 4.3 percent, from $4,200 to $4,380.

In-state undergraduate tuition at campuses in Augusta, Fort Kent, Machias and Presque Isle will climb 4.6 percent, from $3,270 to $3,420. The Farmington campus will see the steepest undergraduate tuition increase, 6.8 percent, from $3,735 to $3,990.

And at the University of Southern Maine, with its main campuses in Portland and Gorham, undergraduate tuition will increase from $3,855 to $4,020, a jump of 4.3 percent.

“We are working hard to control tuition increases,” said USM President Richard Pattenaude. “We’ve kept them near or at inflation for the past five years.”

Out-of-state undergraduate tuition at all campuses will rise an average of 4.8 percent. Graduate and law school tuition rates also will increase for both in-state and out-of-state students.

Trustees are also grappling with flat enrollment projections for the fall. Overall, the system expects 22,425 full-time students, barely a blip above this year’s enrollment of 22,391.

In addition to increasing tuition and balancing the budget, trustees approved cutting the equivalent of 24.5 staff and faculty positions through attrition and some layoffs.