State can make a debt-free education possible
With Senate President Karen Spilka’s support, Beacon Hill is finally committed to making debt-free public higher education possible for all. By seeking to greatly expand free access to community college, state lawmakers are figuring out how best to achieve a debt-free degree (“Hit the brakes on Spilka’s free community college push,” Editorial, Jan. 16).
Economists have shown that investment in high-quality, debt-free public higher education is one of the best ways to advance individual and community prosperity. With passage of the Fair Share Amendment, Massachusetts has dedicated annual education funding that could be put toward this goal.
The proposed Cherish Act would address some of the problems around equity that were raised by the Globe editorial, and the bill is widely supported in public higher education. It would guarantee debt-free public higher education for all low- and middle-income students. It funds student support services and provides living expenses so that our low-income and non-traditional students are more likely to graduate on time. It also ensures that public colleges and universities are adequately staffed and that employees earn competitive wages and benefits, making our higher education not only accessible but excellent. Finally, the bill would help address campus infrastructure needs to modernize our instructional spaces and achieve healthy and green buildings.
It has taken years to get a real commitment to public higher education. Let’s get it right.
Joanna Gonsalves
Woburn
The writer is a professor of psychology at Salem State University.
The option of K-14: What a difference two years could make
Your editorial arguing against making two-year community colleges free for all in Massachusetts is dead wrong. By the middle of the 19th century, everyone could go from kindergarten through grade 12 in Massachusetts for free. Adding two extra grades of free education in the 21st century is long overdue. The basic skills required for contemporary jobs have changed and expanded in nearly two centuries, and the least the Commonwealth can do is make available for free what is essentially grades 13 and 14.
A. David Wunsch
Belmont
The writer is a professor emeritus of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Massachusetts Lowell.