ORONO – The University of Maine System board of trustees on Monday approved an average 7.2 percent increase in tuition and fees for its seven campuses effective July 1. The board also heard more criticism about its proposed strategic plan from faculty, students and community members.

But one trustee pointed out that the plan, which has drawn criticism statewide, could forestall higher tuition hikes down the road.

“If we can save money through the strategic plan, then in the future, hopefully, we won’t have to resort to substantial tuition increases,” said James Mullen.

Beginning in September, full-time, undergraduate students at the University of Maine – the system’s most expensive campus – will pay $6,394 instead of the current $5,914. Students also will pay an average of 4 percent more in room and board charges at the seven campuses.

During Monday’s meeting, which was held at the University of Maine, trustees approved a $421.5 million systemwide operating budget for the fiscal year beginning July 1. The budget represents a 1 percent increase over the current year.

UMS Chancellor Joseph Westphal said after the meeting that he wasn’t worried about losing students because “we’re tempering [the tuition increase] with additional financial aid and support.”

On average, $300 of the increased annual costs would be covered through financial aid, he said.

The increases aren’t “draconian like you see in other states,” he said. The University of Maine in Orono also will remain cheaper than its counterparts across New England, he added.

Meanwhile, trustee Mullen told representatives from the faculty and students during a separate forum earlier in the day, “Concern about tuition increases is another big thing driving the strategic plan.”

The draft plan anticipates an $85 million shortfall in the system budget by 2008, and calls for savings and academic improvements by, among other things, merging the universities at Fort Kent, Presque Isle and Machias into one University of Northern Maine with three campuses and one administration. Also, the University of Maine at Augusta would become part of the University of Southern Maine, and all two-year programs would be shifted to the community college system.

Mullen said during an interview later Monday that if the system reaches the end of the line with state appropriations and cost-cutting measures, tuition would be the only place left to raise money to overcome a deficit.

A 1 percent increase in tuition raises about $1 million, he said. “So if we had to fill a $25 million budget deficit and the only way we could do it is through tuition, it would mean we’d have a 25 percent tuition increase. Obviously that’s not palatable,” Mullen said.

Earlier, faculty representatives from several universities told Westphal that the proposed plan had caused “a “high level of unrest” on their campuses.

They suggested creating “working groups” where faculty, administrators and staff from among the seven campuses would examine the feasibility of the goals contained in the draft plan.

Westphal said he was “intrigued” by the plan and that he would work with campus presidents to arrange for more input from those groups.

Carol Kontos, faculty representative from University of Maine at Augusta, said the campus had been “demoralized” by the proposed plan, and Allen Salo, faculty representative from University of Maine at Presque Isle, said some professors are “fearful.”

Lucinda Cole, faculty representative from the University of Southern Maine, said she had heard the “S word,” referring to a possible strike by professors.

Discontent with the strategic plan continued as faculty and students, mostly from the University of Maine at Machias, University College at Bangor and the University of Maine at Augusta, used the public comment portion of the trustees’ meeting to outline their concerns.

Their arguments may have been similar to those cited previously during public forums, but their passion was no less intense.

They said, among other things, that faculty should have had more input into the development of the plan, that associate degrees shouldn’t be eliminated, and that local control was being lost while the system was gaining power.

Board Vice Chairman Wickham Skinner said he realized some would prefer the trustees used a “consensus model” to develop the strategic plan – “one that starts with broad input from all stakeholder groups. That model works in some situations, but not in all,” he said.

“Yes, stakeholder input is important. That’s why we took our draft plan out to the universities themselves – to hear what people had to say so that the plan can be modified before being adopted.”

Vice Chancellor Elsa Nunez said that when the public comment period ends in June she plans to compile the main themes, as well as the 25 most frequently asked questions, and present them to the trustees to review in August.

If the trustees then decide to change the plan radically, the planning period would be extended, she said.

Westphal said after the trustees’ meeting that it was “too early to predict how much the strategic plan would change. But it will change.”

He said he is looking forward to meetings “without reporters and TV cameras” when faculty, students, staff and administrators “can sit across from each other with genuine, constructive discussions in which questions are asked and answered.”

The chancellor said he would brief the Legislature in January on the plan once it is approved by trustees, which could be as early as September.