PHENOM and Allies Urge Town Council to Support Debt-Free Future Act
Photo: Massachusetts Jobs with Justice
Source: Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts
The Public Higher Education Network of Massachusetts (PHENOM) and its allies from the communities of UMass Amherst, Amherst College, and Hampshire College called on the Amherst Town Council on January 22,to support including the state-level Debt-Free Future Act (H.1339 / S.829) as an addition to the council’s existing resolution proposed by Councilors Ellisha Walker (at large) and Patricia DeAngelis (District 2) that supports more funding for public higher education.
The current resolution only endorses the Cherish Act (S.816/ H.1260) as a way to strengthen public universities.The Cherish Act would revolutionize public higher education in Massachusetts. In addition to massively reinvesting in funding for public colleges, the Cherish Act would create a debt-free college program covering whatever amount of tuition students cannot afford. But PHENOM says more can be done by including the Debt-Free Future Act (DFF).
While the Cherish Act only covers tuition for the neediest students, the Debt-Free Future Act would make all of Massachusetts’ 29 public colleges tuition-free. This is sorely-needed, the group asserts, as tuition at institutions like UMass-Amherst has become increasingly unaffordable even for middle-class families. Adjusted for inflation, tuition at UMass grew by over 50 percent between 2001 and 2024.
“We know that our middle and working class students are in crisis,” said Andrew Gorry, president of the Professional Staff Union at UMass Amherst, in testimony supporting the resolution to support DFF and the Cherish Act together. “State funding has decreased by 30 percent since 2001, with the average public college student graduating with over $30,000 in debt.”
To show why he supports DFF, Hampshire College student James Meier noted that the only reason his parents could finally pay off decades-old student loans was because of recent inheritance money. “This is not a future I want, and not a future I would wish upon anyone.”