The Higher Ed for All coalition has begun gathering resolutions of support for the Cherish Act from municipal bodies, such as city councils and school committees, to demonstrate the broad community support it commands for greater state investment in public higher education.
The version currently before the Legislature would make public higher education more accessible by increasing financial support for students and reducing their need to take on debt. The bill also protects the quality of public higher education by establishing wages and benefits to attract and retain highly qualified faculty and staff. The staffing levels are also directly tied to providing enough support for students to ensure they graduate on time.
Importantly, Cherish returns responsibility for maintaining campus buildings to the state, so individual colleges and universities do not take on debt that then is passed along to students in the form of higher fees.
HEFA activist Nellie Taylor said the escalating fees charged to students, on top of tuition, by public colleges and universities are "inappropriate."
"When city and town councils show their support by passing resolutions in favor of the pillars of Higher Ed for All, and specifically the Cherish Act, they show our state legislators how important it is to restore financial accessibility of our public colleges and universities," said Taylor, who helped present a Cherish resolution to the Amherst Town Council.
The Amherst council approved the resolution on Feb. 5, the same date that the Attleboro School Committee passed it.
The Boston City Council became the first elected body in the state to support the Cherish Act, passing its resolution on Jan. 31. The bill is currently under review by the Joint Committee on Higher Education, which has until March 1 to report back to the full Legislature.
The resolution highlights the important role that public colleges and universities must play to counter the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last summer to end affirmative action in college admissions. College enrollment and completion rates in Massachusetts remain lower for Black and Latino students than for many students of other races and ethnicities, widening an opportunity gap.
The HEFA resolution further makes clear that the time is right for Massachusetts to boost spending on public higher education, given the approval of the Fair Share Amendment in 2022. That amendment generates more than $1 billion annually for public education and transportation.
The issues that Cherish addresses resonate deeply with Julie McNeill-Kenerson, a staff member at Massasoit Community College and double graduate of UMass Boston, where she earned her bachelor’s and master’s degrees.
"I can remember thinking as a ‘city kid’ from a working-class family, that maybe college just wasn’t meant to be for someone like me. But ultimately, I thought it was worth it to apply, to go, and to begin that journey and finish those degrees," McNeill-Kenerson said. "Yet, I still have thousands upon thousands of dollars in student loan debt compiling interest, a salary that does not meet today’s living wages, and working conditions that are not nearly what I would envision to be ideal. I want something more for my students, for my colleagues, for my community and for myself."
To learn more about the Cherish Act, please visit massteacher.org/cherishact.
