Lots of news out of Massachusetts this week. The unprecendented health insurance bill and now students and faculty of public colleges are seeking additional funds on top of the 2007 budget funds.
Public college students and faculty from across the state traveled to Beacon Hill Wednesday to urge legislators to grant their schools more money than is included in the House of Representatives fiscal year 2007 budget. “The financial aid budget really wasn’t what we were hoping,” said Fred Clark, executive director of the State College Presidents Council, before an annual luncheon with state lawmakers. Monday, the House Ways and Means Committee released the FY 2007 budget, which allocated an additional $4.6 million for financial aid. Clark said the financial aid funding needs to increase about $20 million to get back to the levels in 2001. Colleges suffered cuts in funding during the economic recession of 2002. “This is the beginning of, hopefully, a restoration of funds to at least get back to where we were,” Clark said. Rep. Kevin Murphy, D-Lowell, cochairman of the Joint Committee on Higher Education, said this year’s House budget reflected the biggest increase in the history of higher education funding from the Massachusetts Legislature.
Massachusetts+Education, Massachusetts+College, Massachusetts+School