SALEM — Public higher education in Massachusetts is about to see a surge.
Gov. Maura Healey and Lt. Gov. Kim Driscoll, joined by education leaders across the state, packed the recital hall at Salem State University’s Bertolon School of Business Wednesday morning to announce a $62 million investment to boost access to public higher education for low- and middle-income students.
In particular, the funding will expand the MASSGrant Plus program to now cover “the full cost of tuition and fees for Pell Grant-eligible students” at the state’s public universities and colleges, according to an announcement from Healey’s office. Pell Grants serve low-income undergraduate students, particularly those who “display exceptional financial need and have not earned a bachelor’s, graduate, or professional degree,” per the U.S. Department of Education.
Students from middle-income households, defined as earning $73,000 to $100,000 annually, will have “costs for tuition and mandatory instructional fees reduced by up to half of their out-of-pocket expenses,” the state announcement said. “While middle-income students must be enrolled full-time to qualify, the expansion will extend MASSGrant Plus financial aid to both full- and part-time Pell Grant-eligible students for the first time.”
The state’s announcement further outlined that the expansion is covered through the recently passed “Fair Share” amendment, a 4% surtax on incomes higher than $1 million annually. Voters approved the amendment last November, and it’s expected to generate about $2 billion for education and transportation programs each year.
Wednesday’s event at Salem State served as a platform for multiple announcements, including news from University President John Keenan that Salem State has formally partnered with TheDream.US, a college and career success program serving undocumented immigrant youth.
“This program will offer 10 full scholarships to Salem State for 10 undocumented students on our campus,” Keenan said. “Salem State is proud to be the first partner in the commonwealth to have such a partnership, and we in all likelihood will become, next fall, the first Hispanic-serving institution in the commonwealth next September.”
For all that, it seemed Salem State was the perfect setting for the $62 million news. As Healey announced the details to the MASSGrant Plus expansion, an audience of mostly faculty and students stood for an extended ovation.
“This means, for the first time, we’re providing what’s effectively a free college education to all Pell Grant-eligible students,” Healey said. “This is a big deal, important to the lieutenant governor and me.”
Driscoll, in taking the podium, offered remarks that immediately addressed the culture at Salem State University — both for its energy of hope and opportunity, and for how it grieves.
“Before we were here on Central Campus, we had a chance to head down to the O’Keefe Center and meet with some of our men’s hoop team,” said Driscoll, herself a member of the Vikings’ Hall of Fame in women’s basketball. “All of you know, because as a campus and as a community, we feel for each other — when there are good things happening, like today, and when there are tragedies… like when you lose someone like Carl-Hens Beliard.”
Driscoll remembered Beliard as a high school senior in Worcester, bringing the state championship home last year.
“The whole team came to celebrate at the Statehouse, and Carl was the only senior on the team, so I got to spend some time with him… He was coming to Salem State!” Driscoll said. “The way the team is coming together at Salem State has really celebrated what he meant, what his life meant.
“It speaks volumes,” Driscoll continued, “about what this places means in people’s lives.”
In closing her remarks on Beliard, Driscoll recalled college in her day, when “you worked your butt off all summer. If you really hustled, you could work off your tuition and fees.”
That isn’t the case today, she said, but that’s changing.
“It’s something that makes this MASSGrant Plus financial aid expansion just a major force multiplier not just for the students here and staff supporting our kids, but for our entire state,” Driscoll said. “The graduates here are future teachers and nurses, small business owners and entrepreneurs, and lieutenant governors.”
Nick Alves, an education junior at Salem State, also spoke. Keenan later commented on having Alves on the stage to speak without knowing what was being announced, and how he responded to Healey’s announcement by leaning in and whispering “wow.”
“It’s going to help a lot of students be able to come here, to get more opportunities for students to be here without having to split their focus into academics, into working, into how they’ll get their bills paid, all the while trying to keep their grades up,” Alves said. “As a Pell Grant recipient myself, it’s very important to me, because it gives me the chance to fully focus on school without having to think about work today, to do this, do that. It’s about being in school, being focused.”
Speaking to reporters after the announcement, Healey said she’s seen college enrollment start to spike state-wide “in the last few months.”
“What that means is more people are going to be able to go to school, get an education, and be part of the workforce driving the economy forward,” Healey said. “For students attending our community colleges and public universities and colleges, those are the students who are going to help grow Massachusetts, and those are the students who are going to stay in Massachusetts.”