Massachusetts Higher Ed:

In 2020, the average state aid a student received covered a meager four percent of their tuition and fees – making this aid no longer a factor for most low-to-middle-income families. MASSGrant, the state’s primary need-based grant for students, used to cover 80 percent of a student’s tuition and fees at a state school. Now it covers just 10 percent for those most in need of financial assistance.

With limited financial aid support and annual increases in tuition and fees, low-to-moderate-income students are forced to choose between balancing a heavy work schedule with their courses or taking out student loans to cover their unmet financial need. The average low-to-middle-income student is shouldering $10,000 in unmet need each academic year.

This debt often proves to be too burdensome for many low-to-middle-income families, especially those in communities of color – further exacerbating barriers people of color already face in higher education and in the workforce. In communities of color, only 36 percent of people have a college degree – while those rates reach 50 percent in predominantly white communities.

What has long been considered a critical step toward social and economic mobility in this nation is being held out of reach for Latino and Black and African-American families in Massachusetts, with many being forced to abandon the hope of a college degree for themselves and their children. High debt-burdened low-and-middle-income students who are able to graduate are at a significant disadvantage upon graduation – with hefty loan payments draining their resources, further exacerbating existing economic and racial disparities.