Undergraduate enrollment in Massachusetts public colleges and universities has now rebounded to pre-pandemic levels, fueled by the implementation of free community college programs starting in fall 2023. Amid a remarkable increase in access, data indicate significant progress is needed in ensuring that more students complete their programs.
At the October 28, 2025, Massachusetts Board of Higher Education (BHE) meeting, Commissioner Noe Ortega and Associate Commissioner Mario Delci presented preliminary data on fall 2025 enrollment levels, as well as a landscape view of student success outcome trends by segment, including through an equity lens. The continued enrollment rebound reflects the success of the Commonwealth’s investments in affordability and access—particularly free community college—while highlighting the need for continued investment in student success so more students can complete degrees and credentials of value.
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According to the latest data on fall undergraduate enrollment in the Massachusetts public higher education system, collected as preliminary estimates* earlier this month, undergraduate enrollment across the public higher education system reached 172,499 students in fall 2025, matching the level recorded before the pandemic in fall 2019. Enrollment increased +5.7% from last year, marking the third consecutive year of systemwide growth.
Nearly all of the system’s increase occurred at community colleges. Per fall 2025 estimates, the community colleges enroll 86,321 students—up +11.4% from last year, up +38.5% from fall 2022, and now representing half of all undergraduates in the system. These increases follow the introduction of free community college for adults 25 and older in fall 2023, which was expanded to students of all ages in fall 2024. First-time student enrollment has increased +22.7% since fall 2024 and +69.0% since fall 2022, with every community college seeing gains in the new and overall student populations.
Undergraduate enrollment at the state universities is flat compared to last fall, at 31,761 total undergraduate students and 6,064 first-time students. Demographic trends have reduced the number of traditional-age college-going students in Massachusetts, making the lack of growth in this segment predictable.
In a similar trend, undergraduate enrollment across the University of Massachusetts (UMass) system is 54,817 students, an increase of +0.8% from last year, continuing a trend of stabilization after years of steady growth. First-time student enrollment rose +4.0% to 11,135.
The report to the BHE then focused on trends in five student success metrics for which the BHE set targets in June 2023, to be met by 2033:
The six-year completion anywhere rate for Massachusetts public colleges and universities was 56.8% for students who entered in fall 2018 and completed by June 2024, part of a flattening trend after several years of small increases. The flattening may reflect the challenges faced by students who were in college during the COVID emergency era, slowing progress toward the 2033 target of a 60% completion rate at the system level.
At the community colleges, there has been progress in first-year outcomes, but it is yet to be seen in the longer-term completion anywhere rate. The on-time credit accumulation rate continued its long-term, steady rise, reaching 38.2% for students who entered in fall 2024 and nearing the 40% target for 2033. The percentage of students who persisted in higher education from their first to second fall (persistence rate) for those who entered in fall 2023 was essentially flat at 59.8%. Among students who entered community colleges in fall 2020, 23.5% transferred to a four-year institution within four years, an increase of over 3 percentage points over the prior year, albeit with a significantly smaller starting cohort than the prior falls. The six-year completion anywhere rate, however, for students who entered in fall 2018 remained unchanged at 35.2%. While trends are moving in similar directions across student groups, equity gaps across subgroups remain substantial. Completion rates for Black or African American students and for Hispanic or Latino students are each more than 10 percentage points below the 2033 target of 40%. Completion rates for White students are 41.4%, ahead of the 2033 target of 40%.
At the state universities, the long-term trend for all indicators is either flat or down, with some progress in the momentum of the most recent cohorts. The concerning decline in the state universities’ completion anywhere rate has continued, falling from 73.8% for the fall 2014 cohort to 68.0% for the fall 2018 cohort, putting it 12 percentage points below the 80% target for 2033. These declines are even sharper in Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino completion outcomes, which have each fallen below 57%. In the first-year momentum indicators, there has been some progress after the COVID emergency era, now at 85.5% for persistence and 68.2% for on-time credit accumulation.
Across the four undergraduate UMass campuses, completion and persistence rates are 77.7% and 89.7%, respectively, with significant increases needed to reach the 2033 segment targets of 85% and 95%. The disparities compared to the 2033 targets are even greater for Black or African American and Hispanic or Latino students whose rates have declined over time, while completion and persistence have held steady or improved for White students. The rate of completion of students who transferred from community colleges increased 10 percentage points over a decade but dropped by 3 percentage points for the cohort that transferred in fall 2020, a time of heightened COVID disruption.
Leading indicators such as persistence and on-time credit accumulation suggest that at the state’s community colleges, the state’s investments in the SUCCESS program are showing a positive impact. A SUCCESS program for state universities was launched in Fiscal Year 2025.To translate early gains into higher completion rates—and to ensure that all students benefit equitably—Massachusetts will need to continue investing in programs that support students from enrollment through graduation. The return to pre-pandemic enrollment levels marks a turning point; the next measure of success will be how many of those students complete and thrive.
Published October 28, 2025. Updated with narrative on November 18, 2025.
* Enrollment data are headcount of undergraduate students enrolled for credit in Massachusetts public higher education each fall, including dual enrolled and early college students. Fall 2025 data are estimates prior to final fall collection at the end of the term and exclude any students who enrolled later in the fall (in late-start, mini-session, etc.) courses.
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