Overview
After a reorganization of Massachusetts’s educational governance in 2008, the Board of Higher Education (BHE), a department within the Executive Office of Education (EOE), was created by Section 1 of Chapter 15A of the Massachusetts General Laws. BHE is composed of 13 voting members, who are responsible for defining the mission of, and coordinating, the state’s system of public higher education with support from the Department of Higher Education (DHE). The system of public higher education includes 15 community colleges, nine state universities, and five University of Massachusetts campuses.
According to its website at www.mass.gov, DHE “is the staff to the 13-member Board of Higher Education (BHE), responsible for executing the Board’s policies and day-to-day operations.” DHE was created by Section 6 of Chapter 15A of the General Laws and is headed by a commissioner. DHE had 67 employees and a budget of $5,186,847 in fiscal year 2021.
The same website states,
The mission of the Board of Higher Education is to ensure that Massachusetts residents have the opportunity to benefit from a higher education that enriches their lives and advances their contributions to the civic life, economic development, and social progress of the Commonwealth.
DHE’s website at www.mass.edu states,
At its December 11, 2018 meeting, the BHE adopted the following Vision Statement to guide the work of developing a new statewide strategic plan for public higher education.
The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education (BHE) aims to sustain and expand on Massachusetts’ unique leadership position in higher education as defined by the strength and reputation of our private and public postsecondary institutions and our nation-leading level of attainment among our adult citizens. To further realize those goals and to ensure that public higher education opens doors of opportunity and fulfilment for traditionally underserved populations, we elect to make our top statewide policy and performance priority—Significantly raise the enrollment, attainment and long-term success outcomes among under-represented student populations. We intend this equity lens priority to guide campus and system performance measurement and promote initiatives and policies that collectively expand success for residents and for our economy and society, including the development of an integrated financial planning process to ensure long term sustainability and affordability.
Emergency Education Relief Funding
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act was signed into law March 27, 2020. The United States Department of the Treasury’s website states that the CARES Act “provided fast and direct economic assistance for American workers, families, small businesses, and industries.” According to the United States Office of Elementary and Secondary Education, the act provided approximately $3 billion for the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund that was awarded to states by the United States Department of Education (US DOE).
On April 21, 2020, US DOE issued a form titled “Certification and Agreement for Funding under the Education Stabilization Fund Program—Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund” to the Governors of all 50 states. Governors were to complete the form in order to receive their states’ GEER Fund allocations. According to the form,
Under the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund (GEER Fund), [US DOE] awards grants to Governors for the purpose of providing local educational agencies (LEAs), institutions of higher education (IHEs), and other education related entities with emergency assistance as a result of the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Of the $2.95 billion dollars to be awarded, Massachusetts was awarded $50,843,703 based on Section 18002(b) of the CARES Act. Of that amount, $21,218,277 was to be administered by DHE, through interdepartmental service agreements with EOE, as follows:
- An allocation of $14,806,625 for reopening grants to support the safe return of students, staff members, and faculty members to campus and to support their remote learning needs.
- A sub-allocation of $95,400 of the above funds for DHE to administer 2019 coronavirus (COVID-19) response grants to institutions of higher education (IHEs).
- An allocation of $1,075,000 for DHE to contract with Ernst & Young—Parthenon (a global strategy consulting organization) to support DHE’s fiscal monitoring activities.
- An allocation of $2,500,000 for DHE’s Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA) to give to community colleges to distribute to students as emergency, need-based financial aid. According to DHE’s website, OSFA’s purpose is as follows:
OSFA is primarily responsible for the management and oversight of all state funded financial aid programs and advises the Board of Higher Education about financial aid policy matters. . . . OSFA is the principal agency for promoting access to higher education through early awareness initiatives that foster the recognition of college as a viable postsecondary option and the availability of financial aid resources to help students and families meet college costs.
- An allocation of $1,000,000 to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 on junior and senior high school students who had limited access to on-campus dual-enrollment courses through the Massachusetts Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Partnership between DHE and the institutions that make up Massachusetts’s public higher education system. According to DHE’s website,
The Massachusetts Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Partnership (CDEP) provides opportunities for Massachusetts high school students to take college-level courses for free or at a discounted price and earn credit toward high school completion and their future college degrees.
- An allocation of $1,836,652 to mitigate the effect of COVID-19 on high school students participating in Early College Initiative programs. According to DHE’s website,
The purpose of the Early College Initiative is [to] create and maintain partnerships connecting our state’s districts and high schools with our state’s colleges in order to give thousands of Massachusetts students, especially first-generation college-goers, access to college completion and career success.
As of April 27, 2021, DHE had disbursed a total of $20,364,340 of the $21,218,277 to the IHEs, leaving $853,937 for it to reallocate.
MassTransfer Program
MassTransfer was established in 1974 as the Commonwealth Transfer Compact. MassTransfer offers cost savings to help individuals attend community college to earn associate’s degrees and then transfer to a state college or university to earn their bachelor’s degrees. There are currently five programs and initiatives designed to meet this objective. One of them is the MassTransfer Commonwealth Commitment Program.
MassTransfer Commonwealth Commitment Program
The MassTransfer Commonwealth Commitment Program was announced in April 2016 with a goal of providing students of the Commonwealth’s public IHEs with financial aid so they could complete their bachelor’s degrees in a timely manner.
By participating in the MassTransfer Commonwealth Commitment Program, students commit to completing their associate’s degrees within two and a half years, transferring to a state university or University of Massachusetts campus, and completing their bachelor’s degrees within two more years. They must also maintain full-time continuous enrollment and earn a cumulative 3.0 grade point average. In return, they receive a tuition freeze while enrolled and a 10% rebate of tuition and mandatory fees. Expenses such as housing, health insurance, meal plans, books, parking, and supplies are not covered by the program. Participating students are guaranteed admission (space permitting in the major and college) and transfer of credits.
Commonwealth Commitment Advisory Board
The Commonwealth Commitment Advisory Board (CCAB) is a group of campus representatives from Massachusetts’s IHEs who coordinate the implementation of the MassTransfer Commonwealth Commitment Program at the institutions they represent. As of September 2018, CCAB was composed of 25 campus representatives, ranging from deans and vice presidents to directors and coordinators. The Commonwealth Commitment Program Internal Implementation Team is a group of five DHE employees designated to represent DHE during CCAB meetings. This team and CCAB, as a working group, are responsible for reviewing all aspects of the MassTransfer Commonwealth Commitment Program and making recommendations to BHE for program improvement. DHE is responsible for convening this working group at least annually.
| Date published: | June 27, 2022 |
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