Massachusetts Senate leader calls for free community college

Dive Brief:

The president of the Massachusetts Senate on Wednesday called for community college to be free in the state, according to local media reports.
Karen Spilka, a Democrat, began the new legislative session by proposing tuition-free associate degrees for residents. She argued that making higher education more accessible could help Massachusetts strengthen its workforce and shrink its racial wealth gap, WBUR reported.
Spilka did not get into policy details during her speech. But she intends to draft legislation on the issue this session, a spokesperson told WPRI.

Dive Insight:

More than half of states offer some form of free community college to their residents. Some impose income limitations for eligibility or require enrolled students to maintain a specific GPA or number of credit hours.

In Massachusetts, senators may be poised to support the idea. Spilka's speech led to applause from the overwhelmingly Democratic chamber, WBUR reported.

A 2022 poll of U.S. residents and parents from Education Next, an education research journal, found that 84% of Democrats support making community college free, compared to 44% of Republicans.

It's not clear how much a free community college program would cost the state. Annual tuition and mandatory fees for Massachusetts community colleges in the 2023 fiscal year range from $6,300 at Bunker Hill Community College to $7,560 at Middlesex Community College.

State and local governments are increasingly taking the lead in the movement for free college, after a federal push stagnated in February.

The same month, Democratic Gov. Janet Mills proposed a one-time $20 million investment in Maine's community college system to allow those who graduated from high school from 2020 to 2023 to earn an associate degree or one-year credential for free. The legislature approved the plan last year, resulting in the Free College Scholarship.

And in March, New Mexico made college free for most residents by designating $75 million for the New Mexico Opportunity Scholarship Act. The scholarship program covers full tuition and course-specific fees at the state's public colleges. Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham's office has called it the most wide-reaching tuition-free program in the country.