Michael HornThought leader creating a world where all individuals can build passions & fulfill their human potential. Author of the national bestseller Job Moves: 9 Steps for Making Progress in Your Career

Massachusetts’ free community college program misses the mark.

Name: Massachusetts’ free community college program misses the mark.
Uploaded: 2025-06-25T14:00:02+00:00
Duration: 58 s
Channel: Michael Horn
Description: In this solo commentary, Michael Horn argues that Massachusetts’ Mass Educate law, which provides free community college, is misguided. While enrollment…

25 Jun 2025 · 1 min

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In this solo commentary, Michael Horn argues that Massachusetts’ Mass Educate law, which provides free community college, is misguided. While enrollment numbers have risen, Horn warns that the policy may not deliver value for students or taxpayers, citing examples of community‑college programs with large negative returns on investment (ROIs). He contrasts Massachusetts’ approach with Texas State Technical College’s funding model, which ties financing directly to student and taxpayer value, and suggests Massachusetts should adopt a similar value‑focused system.

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Massachusetts is now a couple years into its experiment in rolling back the clock on college policy, and it's not a good thing. Nationwide, people are focused on making sure that college actually returns value to students and taxpayers. They're looking at the return on investment. But Massachusetts has been focusing on free community college through its Mass Educate law, I argue in my latest piece at Forbes. And that's a mistake. While enrollments are soaring, people are questioning, is this really going to be good for students in all cases? And with certain programs at certain community colleges having huge negative ROIs, it's anything but clear. Texas actually has a much better model than Texas State Technical College, where it's really focused on value for students and taxpayers, and the funding formula for the college is 100% focused on that. Massachusetts should take note.