Healey’s financial aid boost leaves many deserving students behind
Governor Maura Healey’s use of revenues from the new millionaires tax to cover college costs for thousands of lower-income students and dramatically cut costs for middle-class families is a great boost for those families (“Couple financial aid boost with student support, stable prices,” Editorial, Nov. 21). However, it leaves behind a huge number of deserving Massachusetts students — also from taxpaying families — who attend a private college or university because that school is the best fit for them and their family or is even the lowestcost option.
This plan is not only unfair to students and families but it’s also a missed opportunity to strengthen the state’s competitiveness and economic future. More than 290,000 students attend private colleges and universities in Massachusetts — more than double the number attending four-year public colleges. Private colleges and universities have long committed to serving the Commonwealth’s Pell-eligible students, and these institutions also educate the majority of students pursuing degrees in STEM areas (science, technology, engineering, and math) or careers in nursing and allied health professions. When the state decides that these low- and middle-income students are not worthy of any additional financial support simply because the college of their dreams is not a public institution, it is sending the message that they are on their own.
The Globe is right: Any financial aid assistance should follow the student, just as it does for the successful Pell Grant program. If that student chooses a private college or university, those funds should follow the student there.
To be clear, we are only asking the state to see that all deserving Pell-eligible students in the Commonwealth be treated fairly. The Healey plan should strive to be equitable in helping all students attend the college or university that is right for them.
This plan is not only unfair to students and families but it’s also a missed opportunity to strengthen the state’s competitiveness and economic future.
ROB MCCARRON President and CEO Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts Belmont