Erika Giampietro, Dr. William Heineman, and John Keenan

The expansion of the MassGrant Plus and MassReconnect programs and tuition equity for Massachusetts students will expand college access for students who see college as cost prohibitive for them and their families. We celebrate these efforts to ensure that students from all backgrounds can pursue higher education, and we know that it will require complementary efforts to ensure those students ultimately earn a degree.

While cost is a major barrier for many students, it is not the sole barrier driving inequities in college access and success. There is a comprehensive body of evidence from decades of research that shows success in college depends on the development of social, cognitive, noncognitive, and academic skills that help students navigate the college environment and adjust to the rigors of college coursework. Currently, Massachusetts suffers high rates of attrition in college persistence and staggering equity gaps in college completion. There were more than 350,000 people in Massachusetts between the ages of 20 and 34 with some college credits but no degree in academic year 2021-22, and while 50% of white students earn a degree within six years of high school graduation, only 24% of Black students and 17% of Latino students achieve the same success. In order to maximize the return on our investments in college affordability, we must ensure that students of all backgrounds can not only afford college, but can complete their degrees at much higher rates than they are today.

That’s why we are deeply committed to growing Early College to address directly those academic and non-academic barriers to college completion. In Early College programs, students take rigorous, transferable college courses during their regular high school day, and receive significant wraparound supports to ensure they can succeed in the college environment. Students learn skills like time management and how to navigate the social and logistical challenges of the transition from high school to college, and they graduate with significant credits along with the confidence and habits to be successful in their next step. The results are promising; Early College students are significantly more likely to enroll and persist in college than matched peers, and these increases are consistent across categories of race, family income, and prior academic achievement. Given those outcomes, research from MassINC suggests that Early College doubles the odds of a student immediately enrolling and then persisting to a second year of college.

The colleges we lead partner with high schools to provide Early College programs serving students from Lynn, Salem, and other surrounding communities. Currently, there are 876 Early College high school students enrolled at North Shore Community College, and 393 additional students enrolled at Salem State University. Students in our programs are studying for potential careers in fields like computer science/IT, health care, business, and education, setting them up to make more informed choices as they pursue college after completing high school. Across both campuses, Early College students earned nearly 8,400 credits in school year 2022-23, and are slated to earn even more this year. Importantly, students take these classes with college professors, often located on the college campus, providing exposure to the rigors of college academics and the unfamiliar and sometimes daunting college environment.

We believe that the combination of Early College and programs that address college affordability presents powerful opportunities for students. Particularly for students that have historically been underserved in our higher education system, such as students of color, students from low-income homes, and English language learners, among others, we can address the financial barriers to college access, but also the academic, social, and cultural barriers to college success that contribute to much lower rates of degree attainment for students from underserved communities.

This work is made possible thanks to leaders in the state legislature and executive branch who see the potential in this effort and have supported it fiscally and through their priorities. We also want to celebrate the bold efforts of high school and college educators and other community leaders who are building the state’s initial high-quality programs and authentically engaging students and families in doing so.

For students, these programs reduce the time and cost to degree completion, and support thoughtful planning around majors and career paths. For school systems, these programs provide a strategy for addressing academic performance declines and ensuring students succeed in more rigorous and relevant coursework. For the Commonwealth, Early College increases the likelihood of developing a diverse, skilled, and prepared workforce in our most important and competitive industry sectors, like education, health care, technology, and other STEM-related fields. We believe strongly in the power of Early College, and look forward to continuing to build on the successful foundation for growth that’s been developed over the last five years.

Erika Giampietro is the executive director of the Massachusetts Alliance for Early College. Dr. William Heineman is the president of North Shore Community College. John Keenan is the president of Salem State University.