Suffolk announced last Friday that undergraduate tuition will be raised by 4.8 percent, bringing the cost to $29,778, but said the increase would be the lowest in 35 years.

Some Suffolk students balked at the idea of their already high tuition being raised. “Our tuition is high as it is. I don’t know why they’re raising it,” said freshman Teresa Rodriguez.

In a campus-wide email, Acting President and Provost Barry Brown explained, “we remain mindful of the financial burden that rising education costs place on students and their parents,” but said the increase was necessary “in order to maintain the standards of excellence that meet our student’s highest expectations.”

Brown went on to say in the email that the same increase will apply to graduate programs in the College of Arts and Sciences and the Sawyer Business School and that there would be no increase in housing costs.

“Most importantly, the tuition increase is primarily directed at increasing funds to be made available to our students for financial aid. Approximately 70 percent of next year’s tuition increase will be used to fund financial aid,” said Brown in the email.

“I just don’t understand why [there’s an increase],” said sophomore Jeff Numero. “I feel like students are paying a lot even with financial aid.”

“It’s getting tougher and tougher with the economy,” added senior Bobby Keough.

Brown said the Board of Trustees “has maintained its principal of keeping our tuition level well below comparable institutions. Of the fifty-six private colleges and universities in Massachusetts, thirty-nine have undergraduate tuition rates higher than Suffolk University.”

Keough said it was good to hear that the tuition increase was lower, “but it’s still in an increase.”