UMass offering free tuition to in-state families making under $75K a year

The University of Massachusetts is simplifying its message for prospective in-state students and their families: If you make under $75,000, you can come to any one of the system's campuses for free.

There's been a surge in state funding for financial aid in recent years, especially since the passage of a surtax on high-earners in 2022 that has generated more than $1 billion each year specifically for education and transportation investments.

Coupled with financial aid increases from the university system itself, UMass is now reaching for the label of "tuition and fee free" through a patchwork of need-based university, state and federal aid opportunities for low-income students. It does not, however, cover housing costs.

"It's a bit formidable to think about Pell eligibility, the MASSGrant program, all the options out there. We're trying to streamline that and attract attention to the fact that -- we were already doing a lot of this -- but we want working families to know that college is an option," UMass Dartmouth Chancellor Mark Fuller said.

Tuition and fees will be covered for Massachusetts resident students whose families earn less than $75,000 starting in the fall of 2025, according to UMass President Marty Meehan.

Before the free tuition pledge, Meehan said the university system was still very low-cost for high-needs students. At UMass Amherst, 92% of students from Massachusetts households bringing in under $75,000 already had no tuition costs; that number was 93% at UMass Lowell and UMass Dartmouth.

By making the pledge, Meehan said he's hoping more students and families will realize that attending a UMass campus is more affordable than they originally thought.

"It's really important that the public is aware, and I hope this announcement makes it obvious to people how affordable a UMass education is. The sticker price is not the actual price most people pay, and in most cases it's a lot more affordable than that," he said.

Meehan said the programs are largely a result of recent record investments in financial aid from both the institution and the state. Since 2015, UMass-funded aid has increased 73% up to $409 million this year, he said.

"And it wouldn't have been possible without the expansion of MASSGrant Plus," he added, about the pledge to make costs free for low-income students.

Gov. Maura Healey and lawmakers have expanded financial aid through the budget in recent years -- specifically the $80 million MASSGrant Plus program, which began as a $7.5 million program in 2018 under former Gov. Charlie Baker.

Healey announced last year that $62 million of MASSGrant Plus funding included in that year's budget would cover the full cost of tuition and fees for Pell Grant-eligible students. Most Pell Grant recipients typically come from families with an annual income of $40,000 or less, or have otherwise difficult financial situations.

Fuller said it's easier for families, especially first-generation college student families that haven't already been through the college process, to understand that it's free if they make under $75,000, rather than free for Pell Grant recipients plus the other patchwork of financial aid options.

Of the 5,500 student undergraduate population of UMass Dartmouth, he said about 1,500 students will attend tuition- and fee-free under the so-called Dartmouth Deal.

At UMass Boston, which also announced its version of the deal Tuesday, the promise to make tuition free for high-need students is called the UMass Boston Beacon Pledge.

"Being the son of schoolteachers and an immigrant myself, I know education's vital role in opening doors for young people. Our Beacon Pledge program will make a four-year degree at Boston’s premier public research university not just a dream but an attainable reality," Chancellor Marcelo Suárez-Orozco said.

University officials said the program could support as many as 3,000 students of UMass Boston's 12,200 undergraduates, more than a third of whom are expected to come from Suffolk County and the vast majority of whom are expected to be students of color.

The announcement comes shortly after Massachusetts made community college free for all Massachusetts residents this fall, with a $117.5 million investment in the fiscal year 2025 state budget.

Asked about free community college making that route more appealing to some students, and if that motivated the move to simplify the messaging around UMass's financial aid opportunities, Meehan said if a low-income student gets into UMass, he doesn't want them to not attend due to financial difficulties.

"There are students who get into UMass, in one of our elite programs, for example nursing or computer science, and it's really important that these students come to UMass. Because 99% of the students who are admitted graduate, and are highly sought after," he said. "We think it's critically important for those students to come to UMass if they get into a UMass program."

Fuller said he doesn't see the two paths for free higher education as competing with each other.

"All of the UMass campuses are national public research facilities, so it's a little different experience," Fuller said. "Some people are still going to opt for the two-year experience. What's going to happen is we're widening the funnel, for more people to come in and take advantage of higher education at all levels. We're deepening the pool rather than taking from one another."