The University of Massachusetts Board of Trustees voted Monday to raise tuition and fees by three percent. Tuition for in-state students will go up $416 at the four campuses in Lowell, Amherst, Dartmouth and Boston.

Board of Trustees Chairman Rob Manning said the decision to increase tuition is never made lightly and called the hike a "modest and reasonable increase that will require the campuses to continue to cut costs."

Student activists disagree.

Zac Bears, executive director of the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts, said another year of still higher tuition will add to the debt load on families.

"While a three percent increase may seem small compared to previous years, tuition and fees at UMass have increased over 100 percent since 2001,” Bears said. “State lawmakers must fund public higher education and stop pricing out students from working families.”

The Legislature has passed a state budget that includes $513 million for the UMass system. UMass officials wanted at least $30 million more.

Related: Can Massachusetts Support Four Public Universities?