Visit The Boston Globe Share on Twitter Share on Facebook Comment on this Scroll to top of page Deirdre Fernandes Globe Staff March 01, 2018 Once upon a time in Massachusetts, students looking for an affordable path to a college degree turned to the state’s public colleges and universities. But that option is becoming increasingly pricey for students and their families and forcing more of them to borrow ever larger sums of money to graduate, undermining a long-held reputation of public colleges and universities as the cheaper alternative for the middle class. Between 2004 and 2016, the average student loan debt for graduates of Massachusetts’ public four-year colleges and universities rose by 77 percent, faster than in any other state in the country except Delaware, according to a report released Thursday by the Massachusetts Budget and Policy Center, a left-leaning research group that advocates for more state funding for higher education. Advertisement Deep cuts in scholarships, reductions in state funding, and increases in tuition and fees have shifted more of the burden of paying for college to students and their families, the report says. Get Fast Forward in your inbox: Forget yesterday’s news. Get what you need today in this early-morning email. Thank you for signing up! Sign up for more newsletters here Graduates of the University of Massachusetts system and state universities now leave with about $30,250 in debt, just 7 percent less than the $32,355 of debt held by graduates of private colleges in Massachusetts. In 2004, public… [Read full story]
Leave a Reply