UMass President Marty Meehan has said students at the state university system will likely see tuition hikes in the coming year.

Meehan, a former congressman who has led UMass schools since 2015, said that he expects the price bump to stay below the current level of inflations — so around 3% — but was unspecific about how much more it might cost to attend a UMass school in the 2025 fall semester.

“There will be increases in costs,” Meehan told WCVB in an interview aired Sunday. “We want to keep quality up, but we’re trying to keep below inflation.”

The news comes as Meehan also acknowledged that enrollment is likely to stay stagnant at the school as the number of students graduating from high schools has plateaued or fallen.

It also comes as President-elect Donald Trump is preparing to take office for a second term amid promises he will do away with the U.S. Department of Education. Meehan said that he’s aware of the soon-to-be 47th president’s rhetoric on the matter, but said that he heard similar things said during the first Trump term, but saw the opposite effect.

“When Trump won, he said he was going to reduce research funding,” Meehan said. Congress didn’t go along with that plan, and so “we actually had more research funding under Trump because Congress stepped in and said ‘no we have to make certain investments,’” he said.

Meehan said he will do “whatever I can” to work with the incoming administration to make sure the needs of UMass students are met.

“I fully intend to meet with the new Secretary of Education,” he said, noting that former U.S. Administrator of the Small Business Administration Linda McMahon, who Trump has picked for that job, “has Massachusetts roots.”

“I’ve already been calling Republican members of the Congress that I know, because I have a responsibility to work with this administration and to figure out how we can help UMass students as much as we can,” Meehan said.

Despite the impending tuition hike, Meehan said one of the things he wants to do is make sure people know that “UMass is affordable.” The university system will begin waiving the cost of tuition for families making less than $75,000 annually this coming year, and Meehan said under his watch he’s seen the amount of need-based financial aid increase by 73%.

“What we want to be able to do is make sure that any student that wants to attend the University of Massachusetts doesn’t feel that finance is an impediment,” he said.

The salaries at UMass rank at the top of the public compensation in the state, according to a recent analysis of the state’s payroll.  Head basketball coach Frank Martin made $1.82 million and Head Football Coach Donald Brown $950,444, which included a $67,068 buyout when he was fired in November.

UMass Medical Chancellor Michael Collins was paid $1.59 million and his deputy $1.14 million, records show. Meehan hauled in $837,706 to run the UMass system.