Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey signed a roughly $58 billion budget for fiscal year 2025, almost a month after it was due. Included in the spending plan is a provision for commonwealth residents of any age without a bachelor’s degree to attend community college for free. The over $93 million MassEducate program is a successor to MassReconnect, which offered free community college to residents over the age of 25 without a degree.
Along with the free tuition, MassEducate offers up to $1,200 in additional funding to students for educational supplies and resources. Ellen Kennedy is president of Pittsfield-based Berkshire Community College, one 15 of community colleges in Massachusetts. She tells WAMC that the new program is already building off the success of its predecessor.
KENNEDY: We’re already enrolling students in this program, we already have people coming in for tours and to meet with our advisors. The word is out and it’s official today. We’re rolling it right out, and are excited to see the interest we’re already seeing in this program. So, very excited about the impact this program will have on this fall’s enrollment, and then, as we saw last year, we saw a nice bump in the fall last year. We were a week later with the budget, it was approved August 4th, and this year, yesterday. So next, we will probably see an even bigger bump in the spring, but we anticipate a big uptick this fall.
Read more at WCVB.
