Hub’s tuition-free college program growing
Walsh touts Urban College of Boston’s inclusion
Boston’s tuition-free community college program is expanding to another twoyear college, Mayor Martin Walsh announced on Tuesday, while he also advocated for a state bill that would provide this opportunity to students across the Bay State.
Urban College of Boston is now the sixth academic institution to join the Tuition-Free Community College Plan. About 500 students have benefited from this program, which is funded by linkage fees from large-scale commercial developments in the city.
Young people in Boston are benefiting from the building boom across the city, Walsh said during the program announcement in Roxbury.
“When you see a crane in Boston, under that crane is free community college, under that crane is affordable housing, under that crane is job training, under that crane is opportunity for people,” he said.
The program pays for up to three years of college for Boston’s income-eligible students who have earned their high school credential.
Without this opportunity, the 500 students in this program might not have attended college, Walsh said.
He noted the bill at the State House, sponsored by Rep. Chynah Tyler, that would expand this program statewide.
“The kids of the commonwealth, the young people of the commonwealth of Massachusetts deserve the same opportunity,” Walsh said.
Tyler also said she shares “the vision that our students can do anything possible when provided the opportunity.”
Urban College of Boston provides opportunities to urban communities that have been traditionally underserved by higher education.
“They say it takes a village. Well, as you can see the village is fully engaged,” said Michael Taylor, president of the college.
“We can’t wait to begin,” he added.
Since 2016, Urban College of Boston has partnered with The BASE — a Roxbury-based nonprofit that supports student-athletes — to provide onsite college courses.
Speaking to Walsh, BASE president and founder Robert Lewis said, “What you’re providing is access and opportunities for a lot of our young folks that wouldn’t traditionally look at college.”
Stephanie Baez, 21, a student at Urban College of Boston, is the first member of her family to attend college.
Baez said the program “creates a lot of opportunities for other people just like us … getting a degree will open up doors.” †