Rally urges state's leaders to boost support for Mass. colleges, universities
By William McGuinness, Globe Correspondent
Students, faculty, and staff from across the Massachusetts higher education system rallied outside the State House today to press leaders for more support for public colleges and universities.
With megaphones and cheers, hundreds of members of the Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts urged officials to make funding a higher priority. Later, they delivered thousands of postcards to their state representatives asking them to support Governor Deval Patrick's $2 billion capital bond bill to finance infrastructure improvements at the 29 public institutions, to fund the basic operating budgets of the schools, and to add an additional $17 million in MASSGrant, the state's basic financial aid program.
UMass-Amherst professor Max Page, a founding member of the group -- known as Phenom -- said the day’s events were centered on pressuring representatives to fix, fund, and make the state’s higher education system more affordable. He said that if the Legislature passes the bond bill, major repairs can begin on eroding public university buildings.
But his group’s major push was on bolstering the state’s financial aid system. Concern has been growing that turmoil in the financial markets is making it more difficult for students to get money for college.
“We have one of the most expensive higher education systems in the country, and yet the MASSGrant program has been cut dramatically,” said Page, who also is president of the Massachusetts Society of Professors.
Between 1989-2004, allocations to MASSGrant fell from around $57 million to $24 million, according to a report by the state Department of Higher Education.
Tessa Simonds, a senior at UMass-Amherst, told the crowd on the Common, “MASSGrant can mean so much more for the state.”
She said that when financial aid drops, students are forced to take out more loans.
“Even though I get need-based loans and money from scholarships, I will still graduate more than $14,000 in debt,” Simonds said. “That is unacceptable.”
Simonds was one of about 80 students from state's flagship campus to make the two-hour trip. Interim Chancellor Thomas W. Cole Jr. and Provost Charlena Seymour gave their support to "Lobby Day" in a recent e-mail to students, and asked faculty to accommodate those wishing to attend by postponing assignment due dates and other measures. The school even provided funding for transportation to Boston.
"This coming budget year appears to be a difficult one for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts," Cole wrote in the e-mail. "We encourage all members of the campus community to express their thoughts, concerns, etc., to the Legislature whether by participating in Lobby Day or by other appropriate means."
Robert Connolly, spokesman for the UMass system, said: “It is continuously important to make the case for public higher education. And that’s what Phenom's doing.”
