For the tenth year in a row the University of Guelph’s board of governors has voted to raise tuition fees.

The board of governors held a special meeting on Sunday by teleconference where the 2.95 per cent tuition hike was approved in a 19 to 1 vote.

“Today’s Board approval is another important step toward developing a sustainable operating platform that helps us move forward in a fiscally stable position,” said Franco Vaccarino, president of the board.

The budget was originally tabled at a meeting on April 16, but was called off after half an hour due to disruption by students protesting the rising cost of education.

The university says it understands students’ frustrations, but their hands are tied by the amount of funding they receive from the government.

“The problem is there are no other opportunities. As the grants remain stable the only opportunity you have is to increase tuition because there's no other money in the system,” said Serge Desmarais, interim provost at the University of Guelph.

The university also says they are expecting 350 fewer students to enroll next year. They also expect their pension costs to double starting in 2017.

Peter Miller, a student representative on the board of Governors says there are other options beyond raising tuition.

“We have been saying you need to call for more public funding, and the only way to do this in an effective way is by freezing tuition fees and stopping budget cuts because this puts pressure on the provincial government to provide more funding, and as well we have the ability right now to do that. We have the ability in the budget to make a freeze in tuition fees and not do budget cuts this year. There has been budget surpluses each year since 2011,” Miller said.

The increase will be about $200 to $300 per year for the average student.