Despite a broad potential scope, “MassReconnect” program is expected to start out small, helping around 8,000 students in its first year. But Healey presented it as part of her administration’s broader reinvestment in public higher education, after years of flat or declining state support.
Why 25 and older? Why not give it for free to everyone who wants it?
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It’s unfortunate but at least it’s a step forward. Who knows maybe in a couple years the people can vote to just have it free for all ages.
Be like me where my parents made too much but wouldn’t support me so I had to wait until 25 to get my AA because of the bulkshit fafsa income rules.
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A 2 year degree if you go full time.
If you’re working and only going to school part time, you still pay the administrative fees every semester, and the more credits you have, the higher you get charged per credit hour.
A quick Internet search tells me that anywhere from $5K-$10K is average for community college. Also, they never said they went to community college, only that they had an associates.
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Because it’s actually easier to get financial aid if you’re under 25.
Almost everything gets cut off at 25.
Including Pell Grants which is absolutely free federal funding for schools, which tends to pay almost entirely for a community college degree, with plenty left over. This year, for instance the maximum is a little over $6,800.
The average cost of a community college tuition, fees, etc. is aorund $3,000 - $4,500 this year, depending on how you slice the data.
Kinda. I still got Pell grants into my 30s. Only reason they stopped for me is because I capped out.
That’s a great point.
probably the only way banking lobbyists would allow it to pass, they still need the most vulnerable chunk of the age groups going to college, and the lion’s share of them.
There is a bill in the works called the CHERISH Act in Massachusetts that would allow all residents to graduate community college debt-free (note not actually free just support people enough they don’t go into debt).
Mass Reconnect (the program in the article) was created from 20 million dollars taken from the new Mass millionaires’ tax. CHERISH is estimated to cost about 500 million (a great investment but definitely a scale of magnitude larger)
I think what’s crazy about CHERISH is that it would raise state investment in each student just to the level seen in 2001. Crazy how much even states like Mass have cut education funding in the last 20 years.
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