Governor Cuts Funding for Scholarships for Boston Youth

July 14, 2008 – With a stroke of the pen, Governor Deval Patrick yesterday reduced financial aid funding for higher education from $350,000 to $100,000 – putting the higher education dreams of nearly 250 Boston Public School students at risk. 

Ironically, the Governor’s reduction in state funding for ACCESS, Boston’s leading provider of financial aid advising services and scholarships, coincided with a page-one story in the Boston Globe reporting that Massachusetts lags far behind other states in financial aid grants for higher education.  ACCESS's line item in the FY 2009 Massachusetts state budget is #7003-0702.

ACCESS, which has received state funding over the past three years to assist its efforts to ensure that Boston youth have the financial resources they need to pursue higher education, awarded more than $550,000 in need-based scholarships last year.  ACCESS Scholars are enrolled at every campus of the University of Massachusetts and throughout the Commonwealth’s state college system, as well as more than 150 colleges and universities in the United States. 

“This veto puts Boston hundreds of young people’s college dreams in jeopardy,” said ACCESS Executive Director Bob Giannino-Racine.  “With the loan crisis, increasing college costs, and the Commonwealth’s underinvestment in higher education, the need for our programs is greater than ever before.  I urge the Legislature to restore the funding for the ACCESS scholarship program cut from the budget.”

Over the last five years, through financial aid advising, ACCESS has helped students leverage more nearly $100 million in other scholarships, grants, and financial aid to fund their pursuit of higher education.  In the past three years, ACCESS has tripled the amount of financial aid secured by ACCESS advisees – from $8.3 million to $26 million – and tripled the number of one-to-one advising sessions held with high school seniors.

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ACCESS is Boston’s leading provider of financial aid advising and scholarships. Since 1985, ACCESS has provided financial aid advising to nearly 40,000 Boston students and awarded millions of dollars in scholarships. These services are free of charge and provided to students from every public high school and neighborhood in Boston. By removing financial barriers, providing personal support and advocacy and staying with students throughout their college careers, ACCESS has put tens of thousands of young people on the path to success.