Worcester Business Journal

wbjournal.com | November 11, 2024 | Worcester Business Journal 17 UPCOMING EVENT D E C E M B E R 3 , 2 0 2 4 W O R M T O W N B R E W E R Y 5 - 7 P M THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS SIGNATURE SPONSOR LEAD SPONSORS CORPORATE SPONSORS Cornerstone Bank Country Bank Fallon Health Mechanics Hall Seven Hills Foundation Skanska USA Building Inc. UMass Memorial Health Worcester Polytechnic Institute SUPPORT SPONSORS MARKETING SPONSOR MEDIA SPONSORS Coghlin Electrical Curry Prinitng Imperial Distributors Main Street Bank RH White Construction UMass Chan Medical School UniBank A celebration of women's philanthropy, leadership, and empowerment of adolescent girls in Central Mass. Go to unitedwaycm.org/womens-initiative-events to learn more. GIVE.CLASSY.ORG/WIGIVING2024 REGISTER TODAY: THANK YOU FOR JOINING US H R & R E C R U I T M E N T F O C U S "We focus a lot of effort with getting students of color, underrepresented students, to consider college as a viable option and targeting information and hoping to get them to enroll in college. I think that it ultimately, we hope, will lead to more people in the workforce," said Clantha McCurdy, the Massachu- setts Department of Higher Education's senior deputy commissioner of access and student financial assistance. Diversifying the workforce Since implementing its full-tuition grant program, Holy Cross has seen an increase in its population of students of color. In the academic year 2022-2023, 22.3% of the Holy Cross student body was made up of students of color. Two academic years later, that percentage has risen more than five percentage points to 27.7%. At Nichols, Crowley said the aid the college is providing its students is an av- enue to diversify and enhance the Cen- tral Massachusetts workforce, especially through the college's ABLE Initiative. e ABLE Initiative, standing for Af- fordable Business and Leadership Edu- cation, offers graduates of participating community college associate degree programs the opportunity to transfer their entire degree, or up to 90 credits, to Nichols while offering a discounted yearly tuition of $15,000. "is allows [students] to have a pathway to go directly into that bache- lor's program for the degree, for the ca- reer advancement that they'll have for themselves and the added skill set that they'll be bringing to their companies," said Crowley. Ensuring equitable access ough Massachusetts has a plethora of financial aid programs for residents, simply having the resources doesn't nec- essarily mean they're reaching everyone they should be. "If you look at FAFSA completion in Massachusetts, we always do pretty well, but we continue to lack students of color, low income, underrepresented students. at's what we need to keep our attention and focus," said McCurdy. Part of this is working to make FAFSA, financial aid opportunities, and application processes more streamlined for students so aid is reaching those it's designed for. "I've been working with financial aid programs for 30 years, and I can tell you this: I never thought we'd be at this point with these resources," said McCurdy. Massachusetts financial aid programs, at a glance Program Description Participating institutions MassGrant Need-based aid program providing Public and private grants to Massachusetts residents Massachusetts colleges attending private and public institutions and universities, as well as who have not received a bachelor's schools in Vermont, degree or the equivalent, among Pennsylvania, and other criteria Washington, D.C. MassGrant Plus For eligible students from familiies Any of Massachusetts' nine making up to approximately $85,000 state universities or four per year before taxes: the full left-over UMass undergraduate cost of tuition and fees left over after campuses MassGrant aid. For eligible students from families making between approximately $85,000 and $100,000 per year before taxes: tuition and fee costs will be decreased by as much as 50% of the student's out-of-pocket expenses MassEducate Covers the full cost of tuition and fees All 15 Massachusetts at community colleges for community colleges Massachusetts residents who have not received a bachelor's degree or the equivalent, among other criteria Source: Massachusetts Department of Higher Education's Office of Student Financial Assistance website W

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