Why Free Community College Is Missing The Mark In Massachusetts

Massachusetts is now a couple years into its experiment in rolling back the clock on college policy—and not in a good way.

At a time when higher education policy nationwide is shifting to focus on the value students receive from their education, Massachusetts and its relatively new free community college law—MassEducate—is instead focused squarely on access to college.

On that dimension, the Commonwealth seems to be succeeding. According to figures, enrollment rose 14 percent this year—roughly 9,500 new students. That’s on the heels of an 8.7 percent rise in students the year prior. These increases follow a decade-plus of enrollment declines.

But it’s less clear if the enrolling students will benefit from their educations.

With surging numbers of students, fears are mounting that community colleges don’t have the faculty and staff in place to support their diverse needs.