House Ways & Means Budget Moves to Full House

The HWM released its budget recommendations for FY23 which includes many notable highlights for both the Department and for the Community Colleges and State Universities. The Department’s scholarship line item (7070-0065) received a $25.5M increase over the FY22 GAA amount, with proposed $18.2M increase in MassGrant and Mass Grant Plus as well as substantial commitment to funding the Gilbert Grant ($22m). The HWM budget also adds $20M for the Higher Education Endowment Incentive Program, which to this point has only been included in supplemental funding bills.

In the category of student supports, the House budget proposes an additional $3.5M for the Supporting Urgent Community College Equity through Student Services (SUCCESS) grants to community colleges for a total of $14M with language that allows unspent funds from FY22 to be carried forward into FY23. The House budget also maintains full funding for the Community College Workforce Grants ($1.45M) program as well as for STEM Starter Academies, Bridges to College, and PACE.

Finally, the House Ways & Means budget increased the State University and Community College line items by $7.15M and $7.23M for the segments respectively. These increases reflect the annualization of the FY21 funding formula allocations. The House budget also maintained funding for both formula funding line items for FY22 at 2% of base appropriations. In total, the House Ways & Means budget proposal represents an additional $26.6M in state funding over the FY21 budget to support the work of the Department and the Community Colleges and State Universities.

While the FY23 budget may change before its finalized, the House has taken a promising step with its proposal. We would like to thank Speaker Mariano, Chairman Michlewitz, and all the Members of the House Ways and Means Committee for their support. We would also like to thank Matt Noyes for his efforts advocating on behalf of the DHE and the Board. We look forward to updating you as the FY23 budget process continues.

Next Steps

The full House will take up the Ways and Means Committee’s recommendation as well as amendments to the budget proposal at the end of April. Following that debate, the House will approve a final, amended version of the budget which is then sent to the Senate for consideration.