On November 15, 2023, Governor Maura Healey announced MASSGrant Plus Expansion, a new financial aid program for students attending Massachusetts’ public colleges, universities, and the University of Massachusetts. MASSGrant Plus Expansion increases available funds to current beneficiaries of the MASSGrant Plus program and offers financial aid to students who currently do not qualify for MASSGrant Plus.

Both of DHE’s offices are currently in transition. The main Boston office is being renovated until approximately January 2025, so in-person operations are taking place in a nearby office space that can be visited by appointment only. The Office of Student Financial Assistance (OSFA), formerly located in Malden, is currently operating remotely until its permanant move to Everett is complete in January 2024.

BOSTON — In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on affirmative action in higher education, Governor Maura T. Healey and Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell have issued joint guidance to support the Commonwealth’s higher education and K-12 institutions in their work to further equal access and representation in post-secondary education in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision on race-conscious admissions. AG Campbell and Governor Healey announced the new guidance earlier today when speaking to K-12 and higher education leaders and school admissions and counseling staff at a statewide convening at UMass Boston.

BOSTON — The Healey-Driscoll Administration today announced the launch of a new online Education-to-Career (E2C) Research and Data Hub to expand public access to education datasets and dashboards, providing a comprehensive look at students across early education and care, elementary and secondary school, higher education, and the workforce. The E2C Hub will serve students and families, educators, policymakers, and researchers by making education and wage data easier to find, use, and understand, and by giving schools data on student academic success and workforce outcomes after graduation.

Massachusetts has now expanded eligibility for in-state tuition to students who have attended Massachusetts high schools for at least three years and earned a Massachusetts diploma, an expansion which will ensure that many non-U.S. citizens, are able to access in-state tuition and financial aid rates at public higher education institutions in the Commonwealth.

If this sounds like you, or someone you know, you’re not alone. Almost two million Massachusetts residents are over the age of 25 and do not have a higher education credential.