Mass. Millionaire Tax Will Pay for Free Public Higher Educ. for 25,000 Students
Daily Kos, Nov. 19, 2023. - Ed. 🎓
In 2022, Massachusetts voters passed the Fair Share Amendment, an added tax on annual income over $1 Mill, with the new revenue intended for education and transportation. Now, Gov. Maura Healey has announced the details of one of the many state budget wins for students and education: All Pell Grant-eligible students at Mass. public colleges & universities will attend for free.
The expanded MASSGrant Plus program will cover fees, tuition, and a $1,200 allowance for books and supplies for those students.
About one-third of UMass students and 40% of students at Salem State University are Pell Grant-eligible and will be attending college for free—retroactive to the start of the current semester. That funding makes the difference between having to stress about paying for an electric bill, books, campus fees, registration fees and not having that worry,” UMass Amherst senior Caitlyn Fair told The Boston Globe.
“It will take away so much anxiety and stress from my life and the lives of other students in my situation.” Fair told the Globe she will graduate with about $40,000 in student debt and that her brother decided against a 4-year college for financial reasons, highlighting just how big this new aid is.
“This is a very big step because the expense of education right now is affecting how many people can go to school,” UMass Boston junior Dorah Pierre-Louis told the Globe. “We’re missing a lot of brilliant minds in higher education just because people can’t afford to go.”... - More, https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/19/2206390/-Massachusetts-millionaire-tax-will-pay-for-free-public-higher-education-for-25-000-students
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- Also: 'Our public school system is our town': Why this rural Republican is voting against school vouchers,' Texas Tribune for Daily Kos, Nov. 19, 2023, https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/11/19/2206499/--Our-public-school-system-is-our-town-Why-this-rural-Republican-is-voting-against-school-vouchers
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