Letter to the Editor: In favoring higher-income students, program fails to maximize social upward mobility

This letter originally appeared in The Boston Globe.

The article “Two-year college enrollment spikes” highlights the successes of the MassReconnect program in terms of increased enrollment at community colleges. While this is critically important, we must ask who is actually being given the chance for upward mobility.

First, according to our research, the program disproportionately benefits higher-income students, providing them with up to five times more grant money than the lowest-income students. This gives higher-income students a significant incentive to apply, even though they may not need the aid as much as lower-income students. As a result, the program is not well-targeted to maximize social upward mobility.

Second, the recent evaluation of MassReconnect reveals a concerning finding: Nearly two-thirds of the program’s eligible participants (2,872 students) missed out on the grant because they did not fulfill MassReconnect’s requirement to fill out the FAFSA. Before claiming that this program has removed the barriers to accessing essential financial aid, it is critical to dig deeper to understand why so many students are missing out on the opportunity for a tuition-free degree.

There are crucial lessons to be learned from this one-year experiment. Decision-makers must closely examine who we are truly helping and who is being left out of the opportunities that college can provide simply because they cannot afford it. Improving and expanding existing programs accordingly is imperative.

Bahar Akman Imboden

Manager director and cofounder

Hildreth Institute