The Dorchester Reporter
Check it out: It’s a great time to apply to the state’s public colleges, universities
By Bill Walczak
November 29, 2023
Something is wrong in many of America's colleges. Studies by the Hechinger Report and New America, think tanks that study education, indicate that over the last decade hundreds of selective public and private colleges have shifted their financial aid packages from support of low-income students to assisting middle- and upper-income students.
An episode from the new GBH podcast “College Uncovered” called “The Meritocracy Myth” presents evidence from these studies showing that billions of dollars in financial aid are going to students who the federal government has determined are able to afford college without financial aid, resulting in the reduction of dollars to low-income students. The podcast describes this as “affirmative action for the rich.”
It all comes down to revenue. The cost of going to college has greatly exceeded inflation over the past few decades, and college budget funding mainly comes from tuition. As a result, colleges compete for students with families that can afford to pay the tuition. Admissions officers offer financial aid to well-off students to make their institutions more competitive to these families.
Since financial aid dollars are limited, the money for well-off applicants is coming from dollars that used to go to lower income students who are disproportionally students of color.
One example cited in the podcast was Connecticut College, where over the past decade the out-of-pocket cost to attend there increased by 9 percent to wealthy students, but to 235 percent for low-income students. This isn’t what our country needs if we’re going to deal with growing income disparity.
In Massachusetts, Gov. Healey and the Legislature recently addressed the injustice of overburdening low-income families paying for higher education by taking a bold and different direction lowering the cost of public college. Two weeks ago, the governor announced a major expansion of funding for students that covers community colleges and state universities, two- and four-year degrees, and documented and undocumented residents.
Case in point: Massachusetts residents with family incomes below $73,000 will not have to pay any tuition or fees toward associate and bachelor’s degrees. Additional scholarship dollars are also available for students from families making more than $73,000. This is an amazing opportunity and one worth celebrating.
About $230 million of the budgeted $1 billion in anticipated revenue from the state’s so-called “Millionaire’s tax” will support public higher education, of which $135 million is for expanded financial aid, $20 million to fund Mass Reconnect, a program of free community college education for residents over 25 who do not have a college degree, and $18 million to support free education for residents who want to become nurses.
Additional dollars will be used to promote the expansion of endowments for public institutions, for deferred maintenance on campuses, and to study how community college could be made free for all. The expanded funding will raise Massachusetts’s national ranking for provision of financial aid from No. 26 to No. 12.
Massachusetts families know how important a college education is, and polls indicate that 70 percent of our residents want a college education. However, our cost of living makes attainment of a college degree daunting for those with limited incomes. As a result, families often will ask their high school graduates to get a job rather than apply for college.
Additionally, the typical graduate from a Massachusetts public university carries $37,000 in debt from college, and more than half of prospective students know little to nothing about financial aid that can prevent college loan debt.
Massachusetts lacks the natural resources that drive the economy of other states. Instead, our natural resource is our educated residents, though the percentage of those attending college has been declining. That is why we need to spread the word: It’s a great time for Massachusetts residents to enroll at public colleges and universities.
Reporter columnist Bill Walczak, a Dorchester resident, is an elected member of the Massachusetts Board of Higher Education and chair of the board of Bunker Hill Community College. He is the father-in-law of Kirk Carapezza, the creator, co-host, and producer of GBH’s "College Uncovered."
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