Higher education

If anyone understands the transformative power of education, it is Deval Patrick.

A scholarship to prestigious Milton Academy jump-started his climb out of a Chicago public housing development, and bachelor's and law degrees from Harvard helped ensure his professional and financial success.

Patrick has promised to make education a major theme of his administration. His main focus is on primary and secondary education, such as full-day kindergarten. But in an acknowledgement of the enormous role colleges and universities play in the Massachusetts economy, he has also stressed the importance of investing in higher education. And he has encouraged the state's business community to support university research.

One critical issue facing the higher education industry is the decline in state and federal need-based financial aid, which is awarded based on the financial circumstances of the student. A Massachusetts Board of Higher Education task force recently recommended a significant increase in need-based aid, which has declined 22 percent in the past five years, according to Richard J. Doherty, president of the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities in Massachusetts.

The current state budget includes about $90 million a year for financial aid, most of which is grants, Doherty said; the task force advised that the grant program be substantially expanded over the next three to five years.

Patrick is concerned about shrinking financial aid, Doherty said, "because he knows the signal that sends to young talented people of modest means about the opportunities available to them for college."

Having strong Democratic voices at the national level as well could be a boon to academia since "in general Democrats tend to be stronger supporters of federal financial aid," said Christine Hughes, vice president and general counsel of Emerson College.

Indeed, the Democratic leadership in Washington, D.C., has identified education as a major initiative, pledging to make it easier for students to go to college by rolling back $13 billion in cuts to higher ed programs.

"Massachusetts is going to have a very powerful, influential congressional delegation and a governor who will be able to work with them closely," added Doherty, "and that's going to be great for lots of different industries in the state, but it will be particularly important for higher education."

SACHA PFEIFFER