July 13, 2017 Last week Mass JWJ intern Isabella Epshtein testified, along with others, in support of the Finish Line grant. JWJ in solidarity with PHENOM are supporting this bill which would provide Massachusetts students at public universities and community colleges with 1 year of school, after the completion of at least one year of school. This grant would cover all the mandatory tuition and fees for one year.

A year of free/severely discounted college is immeasurably valuable. Many students reported working full time while going to college so that they could afford the high cost of tuition and all the related expenses such as text books and commuting. Other students take an overload of credits every semester so that they can graduate quickly. Even after all this work students are buried in debt, sometimes even without completing the degree they were working towards in the first place. A college education has become a prerequisite for gainful employment. The proposed Finish Line Grant is one way the Commonwealth of Massachusetts can help alleviate some of the financial stresses that are the sad reality of students today.