Hildreth Institute’s Statement on the Senate-passed FY27 Budget

Last week, the Senate passed its fiscal year (FY) 2027 budget (S.3100). The Senate budget closely follows both the proposed Governor’s and House budgets, which as we have stated previously, means this proposal misses the opportunity to build off of the progress the Commonwealth has made in recent years in supporting students to and through a public higher education. Further, disappointingly, the Senate chose to level fund the community college and state university SUCCESS programs, despite the House providing $4 million increases each to those programs.

These collective budgets do not address impending student aid shortfalls which can only be addressed by proactively investing in the Public Higher Education Student Support Fund. Responsibly investing resources today into the Public Higher Education Student Support Fund would mean fewer crises in the short term and would ultimately mean economic gain in the long term since today’s students can attend and complete college with the peace of mind and security that they will receive the student aid they were promised.

Find our full statement and analysis of the Senate FY27 budget here.