On April 14, the House Ways & Means Committee released its budget recommendations for FY22 which includes many notable highlights for both the Department and for the Community Colleges and State Universities. Additional funding was included for the Campus Safety and Violence prevention program to aid in the full implementation of our campus climate work. Additionally, the Department’s scholarship line item (7070-0065) received a $10M increase over the FY21 GAA amount, with proposed $7M increase in MassGrant, and Mass Grant Plus as well as substantial commitment to funding the Gilbert Grant ($22m). The House Ways & Means budget also proposed to raise the High Demand (7070-0066) Scholarship to $2M in FY22, which is a 33% increase over FY21 funding levels. The House budget also restored funding for the State University Internship Incentive ($1M).
In the category of student supports, the House budget proposes an additional $10.5M for the Supporting Urgent Community College Equity through Student Services (SUCCESS) grants to community colleges for a total of $14M with language that allows unspent funds from FY21 to be carried forward into FY22. The House budget also maintains full funding for the Community College Workforce Grants ($1.45M) program as well as for Bridges to College and PACE. The House budget also acknowledges the need to ensure adequate funding for state supported faculty and employees by increasing the Health and Welfare Fund by $1.2M as proposed by the BHE in its FY22 budget recommendations.
Finally, the House Ways & Means budget increased the State University and Community College line items by $7.15M and $7.23M for the segments respectively. These increases reflect the annualization of the FY21 funding formula allocations. The House budget also maintained funding for both formula funding line items for FY22 at 2% of base appropriations. In total, the House Ways & Means budget proposal represents an additional $26.6M in state funding over the FY21 budget to support the work of the Department and the Community Colleges and State Universities. (attach budget matrix).
While the FY22 budget may change before its finalized, the House has taken a promising step with its proposal.
For direct appropriations to higher education institutions, Senate Ways and Means proposed $22.8 million in additional funds beyond what was allocated in FY 2021 which includes allocations from the formula funding accounts from FY21.
The full House will take up the Ways and Means Committee’s recommendation as well as amendments to the budget proposal at the end of April. Following that debate, the House will approve a final, amended version of the budget which is then sent to the Senate for consideration.
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