Massachusetts public greater training noticed a surge in fall enrollment this yr, with group faculty college students leaping by 14% and public four-year faculties growing for the primary time since 2013, in response to Massachusetts Division of Larger Schooling information launched Tuesday.
“We’ve seen through MassReconnect, MassEducate and our public higher education system that when college is made accessible and affordable, students are eager to enroll and get the education they deserve,” mentioned Gov. Maura Healey, citing two initiatives launched within the final college yr that made group faculty free for all Massachusetts college students.
The Massachusetts public greater training system total noticed its second consecutive yr of progress, state officers introduced on the Board of Larger Schooling assembly Tuesday. This follows almost a decade of falling enrollment tendencies within the state’s establishments “initially driven by expected demographic shifts in the state and later worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic,” training officers mentioned.
Nationally, greater training establishments are following an analogous rebound. Undergraduate enrollment grew 2.5% throughout the U.S., in response to Nationwide Pupil Clearinghouse Analysis Heart information, pushed largely by 4.7% bounce in group faculty enrollment.
The double-digit proportion enhance in group faculty enrollment in Massachusetts marks the second yr of enhance, with an 8.7% enhance final yr, in response to the state information. Earlier than the 2023-24 college yr, the state’s group faculty enrollment had been in decline within the state since 2012.
Enrollment at Massachusetts public four-year faculties are seeing its first rebound in over a decade, the information present. Within the fall 2024, undergraduate enrollment jumped 1.2% or 379 college students on the state’s 9 public universities.
On the 4 UMass universities alone, undergraduate enrollment grew solely 0.1% from the final yr.
Public officers heralded the rise Tuesday, calling the enrollment beneficial properties “a win for the future of our Commonwealth” and “a pivotal moment for higher education.”
In recent times the Healey administration doubled state spending on monetary help, together with MassEducate making group faculty tuition and price free for all Massachusetts college students.
MASSGrant Plus additionally took impact within the final yr for college students at public state faculties, masking tuition, charges and a few extra prices for households making as much as $85,000 a yr earlier than taxes. This system additionally covers half of the prices for households making between $85,000 and $100,000 a yr.
State Schooling Secretary Patrick Tutwiler cited the Supreme Court docket’s ruling overturning affirmative motion in 2023, noting the renewed significance of “addressing affordability” in retaining faculty’s various.
The state launched suggestions for Massachusetts faculties and universities within the wake of the Supreme Court docket resolution from the administration’s Advisory Council to Advance Illustration in Schooling final week.
“Making college affordable and accessible is central to higher education equity, and we have clearly lifted a barrier for many students who had college dreams but had not been shown an affordable path to achieving them,” mentioned Tutwiler. … “Massachusetts has met that challenge head-on and made transformational change, opening the door to higher education for thousands more students.”
