NORTHAMPTON — Suzanne Stillinger is an accessibility coordinator and early childhood educator in Northampton who spends more than 40% of her income on rent.

Stillinger lives on West Street in a property owned by Smith College, one of the city’s wealthiest landlords.

She’s now “donating plasma in Springfield once or twice a week to make up the difference,” of what she earns and pays for rent, she said at a press conference at the college’s entrance gates on West Street Wednesday.

Tenants say they started receiving notices about rent increases in June. While the rents vary between $900 per month and $1,800, tenants were told they would see increases anywhere from $100 to $150 per month.

The city — through former Mayor Clare Higgins — and college came to an agreement in August 2005 that i

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