The mission of the Board of Higher Education is to ensure that all Massachusetts residents have the opportunity to benefit from an excellent higher education system that enriches their lives and advances their contributions to the economic development and social progress of the Commonwealth. The Board coordinates the overall missions, programs, activities, student fees, and budgets of the state university, state college, and community college systems. The Board also administers the state financial aid and student aid programs, which ensure that all residents of the Commonwealth, regardless of economic circumstances, have access to higher education.

The Commonwealth’s three systems of higher education serve 116,000 students: 44,000 in the state university system; 31,000 in the state college system; and 41,000 in the community college system.

In Fiscal Year 2000, the Cellucci/Swift Administration will focus on the following goals for higher education in the Commonwealth: 1) make public higher education affordable for all students; 2) implement proposals to improve the quality of the state’s teaching force; 3) improve the physical structure of public higher education institutions; and 4) improve the performance of public higher education institutions.

As a means of making higher education more affordable, the Cellucci/Swift Administration will continue the two-tier approach of reducing tuition and fully funding scholarship programs. For the fourth year in a row, the Administration will support tuition reductions at all Massachusetts public institutions of higher education. Tuition will be reduced by 5% at the university, 5% at the state colleges, and just under 10% at the community colleges. Additionally, the Administration will fully fund existing scholarship programs in this budget. Continued funding of scholarships combined with tuition reductions will make higher education more affordable to low- and moderate-income students.

As a means of improving the Commonwealth’s teaching force, the Cellucci/Swift Administration supports the Tomorrow’s Teachers program. This program provides full scholarships to students who: graduate in the top 25% of their class; complete a bachelor’s degree at a Massachusetts public institution of higher education; and agree to teach for four years at a public school in the Commonwealth upon successful completion of appropriate certification.

The Administration supports continued investment to correct deferred maintenance and promote facility renewal. In order to accomplish this objective, the Administration has included legislation in this budget proposal that requires the Board of Higher Education to establish a policy directing the colleges and university to spend 5% of their combined state appropriation and student retained revenue on correcting deferred maintenance and promoting facility renewal.

As a means of enhancing the performance of public higher education, the Administration will continue to administer the Performance Improvement Grant program. The Board will distribute these grants based on each institution’s achievement of performance measures. The program will provide the Board with a means of rewarding accountability, innovation, and efficiency.

In addition to the new objectives for Fiscal Year 2000, the Board of Higher Education will continue to administer the Academic Challenge program, which provides matching grants for institutional fundraising. The program encourages institutions to generate more funding from private sources, reducing their dependence on revenues from student fees.

The Fiscal Year 2000 funding recommendation for the Board of Higher Education includes $89 million for the scholarship program (7066-0065), and $3 million for the Tomorrow’s Teachers program (7077-1000). To help fund the 5% deferred maintenance spending requirement, the Administration has identified savings through electricity deregulation and a reduction in the fringe rate charged to campus trust accounts. These savings will provide campuses with an additional $13 million to apply towards the 5% deferred maintenance requirement. All collective bargaining agreements signed by the Governor on or before January 6, 1999 are fully funded in this budget recommendation.

Although this budget recommendation does not include funding for the Academic Challenge program or the Performance Improvement Grant program, the Cellucci/Swift Administration intends to file appropriations of $8 million and $6 million respectively for these programs in a Fiscal Year 1999 supplemental budget bill.