Fair Share is giving students the support they need to succeed

Investments made possible by Fair Share are providing holistic support for students, from free and healthy school meals to college and career preparation.

Powering learning with free, healthy school meals

$419M made school breakfast and lunch free for all K-12 students, which:

• Saves families time and money: eliminating the need to pack school lunches helps parents have easier mornings and stretch their grocery budgets further, with savings up to $1,200 per year per child according to Project Bread.
• Reduces stigma: when every child gets a free breakfast and lunch, no one is singled out.
• Helps students learn: studies consistently show that well-nourished children perform better in the classroom.

“We were proud to make universal free school meals permanent with Fair Share, and the combination of state and federal funding means that breakfasts and lunches are available to all students to help them stay healthy and succeed in school.”

— Governor Maura Healey

Impact Spotlight: locally sourced meals at Wilmington Public Schools

Wilmington Public Schools was recognized as a Terrific Tray Award Winner for their excellent, locally-sourced meals. Wilmington students enjoyed rotisserie chicken from a Massachusetts farm, served with local fruit and vegetables. Support from Universal School Meals provides schools with stable funding to plan and source healthy, local meals.

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You skipped the video, Wilmington Public Schools Terrific Tray.

Developing a comprehensive birth-to-higher-education mental health framework

$5M kickstarted the development of a comprehensive birth-to-higher-education mental health framework. This new framework will inform a statewide strategy for mental and behavioral health support, spanning our public education and licensed child care systems. The framework aims to encourage coordination between early education and care programs, schools, students, families, clinicians, and the state’s system of community-based services and providers.

Supporting students at our public colleges and universities

$30.5M was distributed to public colleges and universities to invest in the support services students need to achieve their academic potential.

1. Student support services: Funds were used to provide wraparound programs to support students’ studies. Services include supplemental tutoring, child care assistance, career counseling, success coaches, debt counseling, and mental health support.
2. Basic needs assistance: Funds were used to support students with the costs of attendance outside of tuition and fees, prioritizing unanticipated costs that could jeopardize program completion. Examples include the costs of getting to campus, emergency housing, child care, and food.

The chart below shows student support funding by college, program and fiscal year

Note: the chart above reflects the $28.5M of the allocated $30.5M that has been distributed to campuses as of December 2025. In addition to Fair Share investments, community colleges received $28M in other funding to support student success programming over FY25 and FY26.

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Last updated:	February 5, 2026