Sen. Eldridge, Rep. Higgins, and Rep. Gentile Testify In Favor of the Debt Free Future Act
Act would make public education free for all residents of Massachusetts
BOSTON — State Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Marlborough), State Representative Natalie M. Higgins (D-Leominster), and State Representative Carmine L. Gentile (D-Sudbury) testified on September 18, 2023, before the Joint Committee on Higher Education in favor of S.823/H.125, the Debt Free Future Act — a bill sponsored by State Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Marlborough) and State Rep. Natalie Higgins (D-Leominister).
The Debt Free Future Act would ensure that all residents from all communities in the Commonwealth can afford to go to college in Massachusetts, and that the ever-increasing cost of higher education should never be a deciding factor for someone when choosing schools, or when choosing to pursue higher education at all. The Act would achieve this by creating a grant program to pay the equivalent amount as tuition and mandatory fees to any Massachusetts resident student at any public college or university, or certificate, vocational, or training program at a public institution within Massachusetts.
The testimony before the Joint Committee on Higher Education made clear that the Debt Free Future Act would not replace other financial aid sources, and would provide additional grant money to low-income students to provide for the cost of housing, transportation, food and textbooks, and childcare. A number of positive effects of the bill were also mentioned — from increasing the socioeconomic diversity of public institutions, to boosting the economy of the Commonwealth as a whole by opening access to public education to all.
“This bill is absolutely essential, and I was proud to provide testimony to the Joint Committee on Higher Education on it,” said State Senator Jamie Eldridge (D-Marlborough). “Progress was made on this issue in the recent FY24 budget with the first phase of investments to make community college free, the MassReconnect program, and free college for prospective nurses. Building upon that, it is time that the Commonwealth fully recognizes that high quality affordable education is a right, not a privilege, and that the doors of our public higher educational institutions should be open to all who want to pursue such a path — not just those fortunate enough to afford it.”
“As a proud first-generation college student, and graduate of UMass Amherst, I know how many doors public higher education opens for our residents,” said State Rep. Natalie Higgins (D-Leominster). “I am grateful to partner with Sen. Eldridge and Rep. Gentile to make sure that every Massachusetts resident can graduate without debt and address equity challenges to ensure our lowest income students can afford to attend a public college or university full-time and earn their degree on-time.”
“Higher education was transformative for me, as a first-generation college graduate,” said State Representative Carmine Gentile (D-Sudbury). “No one should be saddled with enormous debt by our public colleges and universities or have to seriously consider whether they can afford to go to school at all. Debt free public higher education has been the reality in much of western Europe for decades, and it is high time for the Commonwealth to catch up.”
For more information about the Debt Free Future Act, click here.
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