Increased Funding for Public Higher Education
The Problem

State funding for our community colleges, state universities and the UMass system has declined by nearly one-third since 2001, which has led to:
Staggering — and in some cases prohibitive — increases in tuition and fees for students
Harmful reductions in staff, faculty and programs
Exploitative use of part-time staff, adjuncts and non-tenure-track faculty who are underpaid and lack health insurance, benefits and job security
Increasing amounts of costly building and infrastructure repairs, outdated technology, administrative bloat, and money spent on capital debt service rather than on students, staff and programs
The Solution
The Cherish Act
An independent report on higher education has found that, accounting for inflation and changes in student enrollment, allocations to public higher education in Massachusetts have been cut by 31 percent since FY01. The same report found that the share of higher education costs borne by students and their families shifted dramatically over this same period, from approximately 30 percent in FY01 to approximately 55 percent by FY16.
The impacts of this chronic underfunding are keenly felt by both our students and our dedicated faculty and staff. The Cherish Act, filed by Sen. Jo Comerford (D-Northampton) and Reps. Sean Garballey (D-Arlington) and Paul Mark (D-Peru), would reaffirm the state’s commitment to public higher education by:
Implementing the core finding of the 2014 Higher Education Finance Commission, resulting in more than $500 million in additional funding for public higher education. These new funds must supplement — not supplant — existing funding.
Establishing in statute a fair and adequate minimum funding level for public higher education at no less than the FY01 per-student funding level, adjusted for inflation.
Freezing tuition and fees for five years, as long as the Legislature appropriates the funds required to reach FY01 per-student funding levels in five years.