Billboards from Berkshires to Cape Cod highlight ‘crisis' at Mass. community colleges
For many students across Massachusetts, the creation of free community college was what has enabled them to go back to — or enroll for the first time — in higher education.
Thirty billboards from the Berkshires to Cape Cod aim to highlight what is being overlooked — understaffing as a result of inadequate pay for staff and faculty.
'We want our students to succeed, and we celebrate their accomplishments this graduation season,' said Joe Nardoni, vice president at the Massachusetts Community College Council, the union representing faculty and staff at community colleges who launched the billboard campaign. 'We are worried, though, about the students enrolling now and their chances of successfully completing academic and career training programs in a timely manner if they do not have the support and services they deserve.'
A spokesperson from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education didn't respond immediately to a request for comment.
At the end of July, Gov. Maura Healey signed into law universal free community college for Massachusetts residents regardless of income or age. The initiative, also known as MassEducate, was part of bucking a decade-long trend of declining enrollment in community colleges.
The MassEducate program follows another initiative by the Healey-Driscoll administration called MassReconnect, which launched in August 2023. MassReconnect allows residents 25 years and older to obtain a degree or certificate through any public community college tuition-free.
Since universal free community college went into effect, enrollment at community colleges has grown by 14% compared to fall 2023 and first-time college students or new transfer students student enrollment increased by close to 26%, according to data from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.
Free community college has allowed Giana Sosa, a 20-year-old Cape Cod Community College student, to focus on school instead of having to work eight-hour shifts four days a week at Trader Joe's.
But it has also added extra weight to professors like Stacie Hargis, business professor at Middlesex Community College, who spoke with MassLive in November 2024.
'We are still serving students the way we always do — we're just busting at the seams,' said Hargis, who is also the Entrepreneurship Program Coordinator at Middlesex Community College.
Read more: 'Bursting at the seams': Free community college straining resources
Nearly half of the members who are part of the Massachusetts Community College Council struggle with food insecurity, and most need a second job to pay for their bills, the union said.
'We have job openings that remain vacant for months, and in some cases years, because we cannot recruit qualified candidates. As workloads increase along with rising student enrollment, we fear that not only will we be unable to attract workers, but we also will start losing greater numbers of qualified faculty and staff,' said Claudine Barnes, president of the Massachusetts Community College Council.
The 30 billboards have been placed around community colleges and around their graduation sites as commencement approaches.
Read more: Teaching at community colleges is getting tougher. Why do employees stay?
'The Legislature and public higher education administrators are aware of the wage crisis affecting community colleges,' Barnes said. 'But we need the public to be aware as well and to advocate with us for state funding so residents can continue to benefit from free college.'
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