ICYMI: Warren, Pressley Op-Ed: Massachusetts Can Improve Equity in Higher Ed by Passing CHERISH Act
Boston, MA - Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Representative Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) published an op-ed on MassLive about the crisis America is facing with the cost of college and how this crisis is impacting communities across Massachusetts. They highlighted what they are doing at the federal level to fix the way that higher education is funded and made the case for the CHERISH Act, a bill introduced in the Massachusetts Legislature, as a creative blueprint for what states can do to tackle this crisis.
Read the full op-ed here and below.
MassLive: Elizabeth Warren and Representative Ayanna Pressley: Massachusetts can improve equity in higher ed by passing CHERISH Act
December 5, 2023
America is facing a crisis over the cost of college. For years, states have invested less and less money into higher education, shifting more and more of the cost of college onto working families. As tuition and fees have spiked, students and parents have taken on crushing debt loads to pay the bills. Over $1.5 trillion in student debt weighs down both families and the American economy, making it harder for people to start businesses, buy homes, and grow their families.
Massachusetts hasn’t been immune to this troubling trend.
As state funding for community colleges, state universities and the UMass system has dropped, Massachusetts students have had to borrow more to cover the cost of school. We are home to some of the best colleges and universities in the world, but an education at those institutions often costs tens of thousands, even hundreds of thousands, of dollars. Gov. Maura Healey has taken important steps to expand access to higher education; just last month, she announced a historic financial aid expansion for 25,000 students attending Massachusetts community colleges and state universities.
But for too many working-class and middle-class families in the Commonwealth — especially Black and Latinx families — higher education is simply out of reach.
We need bold action to overcome these inequities and get us out of this mess. It’s time to start investing real money in higher education again, so that everyone who wants to can go to college without mortgaging their financial future.
At the federal level, we are fighting to fix the way that higher education is funded. We support legislation to enable students to go to public colleges and universities either debt-free or tuition-free, treating higher education in the United States the same way we treat K-12 education for our kids — like a public good available not just to wealthy kids, but available to all students.
We have also been fighting hard to cancel student loan debt for years and are working closely with the White House to get this essential relief over the finish line. And at the same time, we have worked to steer as much federal funding as possible to support Massachusetts students who want to go to college or university in the Commonwealth.
But there’s only so much we can do legislatively in Washington with a divided government. Republicans, who govern with contempt for vulnerable people, have fought tooth and nail to slash education funding for families. With every budget, they propose drastic cuts in federal education spending, and now they are trying hard to roll back President Biden’s actions to address the student-debt crisis.
Rather than solve the problem, Republican leaders want to gut education funding for low-income families and make it harder for anyone who can’t write a check for tens of thousands of dollars to go to college.
That’s where Massachusetts comes in. In an era of divided government in D.C., states have an opportunity to lead the way in turning around our higher education system. The CHERISH Act, introduced in the Massachusetts Legislature, is a creative blueprint for what states can do to tackle the crisis.
Building on Gov. Healey’s work to expand financial aid access and enable more students to attend college tuition-free, the CHERISH Act would create a path for debt-free college in Massachusetts, expand student support services, provide funding to repair crumbling campus buildings and improve wages and working conditions for staff.
Better funding for higher education will also create local jobs and more opportunities for economic growth. Simply put, the CHERISH Act would be a win-win — transformative for students and a strong stimulus for our economy.
Passage of the CHERISH Act has taken on even greater urgency in light of the Supreme Court’s decisions to gut affirmative action and block student debt cancellation.
Those rulings disproportionately affect students of color and their access to higher education. At a time when inequality is on the rise, debt-free, high-quality public education has the potential to narrow the racial wealth gap and beat back attempts to make American a more unequal place.
It’s time to seize this moment and not settle for small fixes or half-measures. By making the choice to invest in our public higher education institutions, particularly on the heels of voters approving the Fair Share Amendment, we have a chance to end the downward spiral of funding cuts, price hikes, and overwhelming student loans that have burdened students and families for too long.
Not every person will go to college, but every person in our Commonwealth will benefit from the boost to our economy that comes from a better educated workforce and the new businesses that spring up as more people acquire new skills and use new approaches to solving old problems.
Massachusetts understands the importance of investing in our people. We have led the way on access to health care and child care. We now have the opportunity to do it again with higher education access and the CHERISH Act, realizing the promise of colleges and universities as a pathway to opportunity and prosperity for all.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren represents Massachusetts in the U.S. Senate. U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley represents the 7th Congressional District in the U.S. House.
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