Gov. Healey launches new higher ed affordability commission featuring Worcester State employee
Photo | Courtesy of Worcester State
Mary Jo Marion, associate vice president of Worcester State University
Gov. Maura Healey on Thursday appointed five members to a new Commission on Higher Education Quality and Affordability, established in the fiscal year 2025 budget this summer.
The commission is tasked with producing recommendations on how Massachusetts's system of public higher education can be more affordable throughout all three of its tiers: community colleges, state universities, and the UMass system.
The same budget that established this commission also made community college free for all Massachusetts residents; and UMass recently announced that it will be tuition- and fee-free for students from families who earn below $75,000 next year.
Healey's appointees to the commission are: Mary Jo Marion, associate vice president of Worcester State University; Niki Nguyen, Board of Higher Education student member and student at UMass Boston; Joseph Bonilla, student government president at Westfield State University; Claudine Barnes, faculty member at Cape Cod Community College, and Femi Soltz, director of policy at uAspire.
Other members of the commission, outlined in state law, include the chair of the Board of Higher Education, secretary of education, commissioner of higher education, the co-chairs of the legislative Committee on Higher Education, president of the UMass system, presidents of several state universities and community colleges, president of the Massachusetts Teachers Association, and directors of several state business associations.
The commission's first meeting will be held virtually Thursday afternoon at 4 p.m.
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