Boston will offer its residents yet another shot at free college through a recently announced program, The Boston Bridge. The program will be available to high school students who graduated in 2017 and are residents of the city.
Students will receive a “last-dollar” scholarship that will cover tuition and fees after scholarship and federal aid, such as Pell grants, are taken into account.
This is not Boston’s first foray into the brave new world of free college programs. Last fall, the mayor of Boston and the state’s governor established two pilot programs designed to eliminate or reduce the cost of tuition at community colleges and four-year public institutions in the state.
The Boston Bridge will link the two pre-existing programs, Boston’s Tuition Free Community College Program and the state-wide Commonwealth Commitment.
The Commonwealth Commitment allows students who are residents of the state to earn a rebate on tuition and fees after the successful completion of each semester at any public four-year institution in the state. To be eligible, students must first earn an associate’s degree at a Massachusetts community college, maintain a 3.0 GPA, and graduate within four-and-a-half years.
Boston’s Tuition Free Community college covers tuition for up to three years of community college and mandatory fees for graduates of the Boston Public School system, once Pell grants and other sources of aid have been accounted for. This coming academic year, participating students will also receive up to $1,000 to pay for books and transportation.
To qualify for the new Boston Bridge program, students must be eligible to receive Pell grants and enroll full-time at Bunker Hill Community College, Roxbury Community College or Mass Bay Community College. Provided that they complete their associate’s degree in two-and-a-half years, they will then be eligible to transfer to a public four-year school in the state.
