2 Important Upcoming Hearings at the State House

Below you will find information about 2 upcoming hearings examining 2 important pieces of legislation that could impact low-income families. These are not connecting to the creation of next year’s state budget. Please see below for more information about these and please consider attending and giving written and oral testimony. Just showing up also conveys the importance of these issues.

1. Educational Rewards Grant bill will be heard May 11^th at 10am in room A2 at the state house:

The Educational Rewards Grant helps low-income workers pay for the higher education and training they need to move into the middle class and become financially secure. In addition to establishing a permanent Educational Rewards Grant, this bill would also create pilot student success programs to help low-income adult students stay in school and complete a degree or certificate. By limiting the grant to high-demand occupations, this bill will also provide the Commonwealth with the skilled workforce necessary to remain globally competitive.

For more info click here.

2. For-Profit Schools Commission bill will be heard on June 8^th at 10:00am in room A2 at the state house:

The For-profit Schools Fair Practices Act was filed to protect Massachusetts students from certain abusive practices of for-profit vocational schools. For-profit college enrollment grew by 236% from 1998 to 2008, largely because of the aggressive recruitment of low-income students and students of color. In addition, low-income students and minority students are more likely to borrow to finance their education at for-profit schools than at other institutions. In the 2008-2009 academic year, for-profit colleges received $4.3 billion in Pell grants—quadruple the amount they received ten years earlier—and approximately $20 billion in federal student loans, with default rates about twice as high as those of students at public and private nonprofit schools. Once enrolled, students often find they are ill-prepared to complete their programs, and often those who do graduate either cannot find jobs in their fields of study or cannot find jobs that pay enough to repay their loans.

This bill would create a commission to study and make recommendations concerning the regulation and oversight of Massachusetts for-profit schools with a particular focus on the protection of students who receive state and federal financial aid for their education at these institutions.

For more info click here.