AMHERST — A planned University of Massachusetts tuition increase for the coming year could see costs rise as much as 8 percent.

On June 30, UMass spokesman Robert P. Connolly told the Gazette tuition would increase for the second year in a row because the state was providing less money than requested, but did not know how great the increase would be.

The next day, according to a report from the State House News Service, University President Marty Meehan told Boston Herald Radio the UMass tuition and fees increase would “look about the same as it is for the state universities.”

He said Bridgewater State University had agreed to a 7.8 percent increase and Salem State University and Westfield State University were both looking at 5.2 percent increases.

The UMass board of trustees is expected to vote July 14 to set tuition for the 2016-17 year.

Connolly confirmed Thursday that Meehan has said the university’s increase will be comparable to those at the other state schools.

“But he is still looking at options, is consulting with the chancellors, and hasn’t made a specific proposal yet,” Connolly said.

Last year, the university implemented a 5 percent increase. In the most recent academic year, the total cost — including tuition, fees and room and board — for an on-campus undergraduate student at UMass Amherst had increased to $25,674.

A 5 percent tuition increase would raise that figure to about $26,400. An 8 percent increase would bump it to just under $27,000.

That extra money might be a difficult amount for students working summer jobs to cover, said Tyler O’Day, spokesman for the UMass Amherst Student Government Association.

“The average college student is working for $10 an hour,” he said. “We’re talking about 200 extra hours of work in the summer that just don’t exist.”

The university begins this fiscal year with a budget appropriation of $508 million, $23 million less than it got last year and $88 million less than it requested. It’s also expected to receive $31 million from a tuition retention program, wherein some tuition money stays with the university rather than going to the state budget.

O’Day said he’s more frustrated with the state for its lack of funding than he is with the university.

“We’re going to keep having this same conversation over and over every year unless the state gets serious about raising revenue,” he said.

The cost of college has been a significant talking point in the 2016 presidential election. Democratic candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders promised to make tuition at public schools entirely free. On Wednesday, Hillary Clinton’s campaign announced a plan to make tuition at public in-state colleges and universities free for families making less than $125,000 a year.

Jack Evans can be reached at jackevan@indiana.edu.