{"id":22945,"date":"2024-10-03T16:46:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-03T20:46:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/2024\/10\/03\/healey-driscoll-administration-celebrates-free-community-college-programs\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T12:04:44","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T16:04:44","slug":"healey-driscoll-administration-celebrates-free-community-college-programs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2024\/10\/03\/healey-driscoll-administration-celebrates-free-community-college-programs\/","title":{"rendered":"Healey-Driscoll Administration Celebrates Free Community College Programs"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_28538\" style=\"width: 510px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/Presidents-Free-CC-2.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-28538\" class=\" wp-image-28538\" src=\"http:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom2\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/11\/2026\/02\/Presidents-Free-CC-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"333\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-28538\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">NECC President Lane Glenn (third from left) at MassEducate launch.<br \/><em>Photo courtesy: Joshua Qualls, Governor&#8217;s Office<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n<p>Framingham, MA (October 2, 2024) \u2014 The Healey-Driscoll Administration, state legislators, local officials, and educators gathered this week to celebrate free community college in Massachusetts. Governor Maura Healey was joined by Lieutenant Governor Kim Driscoll, Senate President Karen Spilka, Education Secretary Patrick Tutwiler, Commissioner of Higher Education Noe Ortega, community college presidents, and students at MassBay Community College in Framingham <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/admissions\/tuition\/free-community-college-is-here\/\">to officially launch the MassEducate program.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Building on the first successful year of Governor Healey\u2019s MassReconnect program, which provides free community college to students 25 and older, MassEducate offers all residents who have not yet earned a bachelor\u2019s degree the opportunity to attend any of the state\u2019s 15 public community colleges and pay no tuition or fees. Massachusetts now has one of the most accessible, equitable, and comprehensive free community college programs in the country for full-time and part-time students, regardless of income.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe knew that MassReconnect would be transformative for thousands of students, for our amazing community colleges, and for our economy \u2013 and that was only the beginning. This universal free community college program will continue to transform opportunities for students and strengthen our workforce,\u201d said Governor Maura Healey.\u202f\u201cMassachusetts\u2019 community colleges are economic drivers, helping students move ahead in their careers and meeting the needs of our employers. We\u2019re grateful to Senate President Spilka, Speaker Mariano, and all of our partners in the Legislature for working with us to create this nation-leading program.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Northern Essex Community College President Lane Glenn was on hand for Wednesday\u2019s event, along with NECC colleagues and student leaders.<\/p>\n<p>MassReconnect and MassEducate are having a significant impact on community college enrollment. Since the implementation of these programs just a month ago, enrollment is up nearly 7% at Northern Essex compared to last fall. That number is expected to continue to rise through the start of <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/admissions\/register-for-classes\/\">fall session II classes at the end of October<\/a> and the spring 2025 semester.<\/p>\n<p>More than 4,500 students statewide received MassReconnect grant awards in the 2023-24 academic year. These new students drove an eight percent overall enrollment growth across Massachusetts community colleges, reversing a decade of decline. Now, the Healey-Driscoll Administration, in partnership with the Legislature, is building on the commitment to make higher education more affordable and accessible, with free community college projected to impact more than 45,000 students this year.<\/p>\n<p>Massachusetts has doubled state spending on financial aid, adding over $200 million in two years. The Fiscal Year 2025 budget designates $392 million to state financial aid, up from $184 million in Fiscal Year 2023. This includes $117.5 million in funding for MassEducate and MassReconnect.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re grateful to Governor Healey and the legislature for Massachusetts\u2019 historic investments in student financial aid, which position us to lead in socioeconomic upward mobility through higher education,\u201d\u202fsaid\u00a0Commissioner of Higher Education Noe Ortega.\u202f\u201cWe also want to thank our community colleges for their partnership in quickly implementing MassEducate so that learners can access it immediately.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>To learn more about free community college NECC, visit the <a href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/admissions\/tuition\/free-community-college-is-here\/\">webpage<\/a>. Informational sessions are held three times each month, both in person and virtually.<\/p>\n<p>MassEducate and MassReconnect are last-dollar financial aid grant awards that are applied to a student\u2019s account after all other state and federal financial aid and grants are applied. All students must complete FAFSA or MFSA, are subject to program guidelines, and must maintain eligibility throughout the course of their studies to continue to receive financial aid.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Framingham, MA (October 2, 2024) \u2014 The Healey-Driscoll Administration, state legislators, local officials, and educators gathered this week to celebrate free community college in Massachusetts. Governor Maura Healey was joined [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":130,"featured_media":26275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[11,14,15,17],"tags":[267,405,408],"class_list":["post-22945","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-community","category-featured","category-headlines","category-programs","tag-free-community-college","tag-masseducate","tag-massreconnect"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Healey-Driscoll Administration Celebrates Free Community College Programs - NECC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/necc.edu\/newsroom\/2024\/10\/03\/healey-driscoll-administration-celebrates-free-community-college-programs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Healey-Driscoll Administration Celebrates Free Community College Programs - NECC News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Framingham, MA (October 2, 2024) \u2014 The Healey-Driscoll Administration, state legislators, local officials, and educators gathered this week to celebrate free community college in Massachusetts. 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