University trustees yesterday approved a 3.5-percent hike in undergraduate tuition, room and board for the 2010-11 academic year, bringing the annual cost of a Stanford undergraduate education to $50,576.

Next year will be the first in which the Stanford undergraduate bill exceeds $50,000.

The Board of Trustees said the University next year “expects to provide an equal amount” of financial aid as this year, when about 50 percent of undergraduates received some $112 million in need-based aid.

The contribution that undergraduate students are expected to make toward their college costs will grow to an annual $4,750 per student, up from $4,500 this year — an increase of just over 5.5 percent.

Leslie Hume, the chair of the Board of Trustees, said the board felt “good” about the adjustments it approved at its Feb. 8-9 meeting.

“Given the impact that the downturn has had on so much of our community, we need to be fiscally responsible about managing the finances of the University,” Hume said. “This is a tuition increase that we feel comfortable with.”

In other financial news, Hume reaffirmed that the University will temporarily suspend the smoothing formula usually used on the endowment payout. The board has approved the University reducing the endowment payout this year by 10 percent, with a further 15-percent reduction during the 2010-11 academic year.

“Some of our peer institutions are going to be reducing payouts over a longer time frame, say over the next five or six years,” Hume said. “We hope to see payouts increasing again by 2011 or 2012.”

The board also approved a 5.8-percent jump in tuition at Stanford Law School, to $44,880 from this year’s $42,420.

General graduate tuition is set to increase 3.5 percent to $38,700 next year, up from $37,380 this year. Engineering graduates and entering MBA students will also face a 3.5-percent increase.

Returning MBA students’ tuition will remain in line with this year’s charge.

For undergraduates, the increase they — or their families — may see on their bill next year includes hikes in tuition and in room and board fees. Tuition will grow 3.5 percent to $38,700, while room and board charges will rise 3.6 percent to $11,876, including $6,700 for dorm rooms and $5,176 for meal plans.

Hume confirmed that Stanford will uphold a financial aid program established in 2008 that covers tuition, room and board costs for students whose families earn less than $60,000 a year. For families earning less than $100,000 a year, Stanford covers tuition.

Reporting on land and building projects, Hume said the board gave final approval for the construction of Bing Concert Hall, which will be able to seat 877 people. Construction is expected to begin in this May and wrap in November 2012. The budget for the Bing Concert Hall is $110 million.

The board also approved construction of the Mulberry House, a $4.9 million new childcare center, and the East Campus Dining Commons, a two-story dining hall planned for the parking lot between Toyon Hall and Crothers Hall.

The next Board of Trustees meeting, in April, will be held at Yale University.