Free Tuition Leads to 14% Enrollment Spike, Straining College Resources
Enrollment at Massachusetts community colleges rose sharply, but staffing hasn't kept pace.
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Free tuition is spiking up college enrollment rates, but professors claim that this has led to overcrowded classrooms and stretched college resources, more so in community colleges.
Recently, a professor at Cape Cod Community College, noted that her college alone had a 3,000-student increase in enrollment for just one semester, leading administrators to close the doors to further enrollment because of capacity constraints.
According to NBC Boston, the rapid growth in enrollment followed the state's free tuition for all community college students, an extension of a 2023 program that made community college free to students over 25. State data bears out the success of the program: enrollment jumped 8.7% in 2023 and another 14% in 2024.
At the moment, all Massachusetts community colleges are experiencing growth, while other states report a drop in freshman college enrollment rate.
Strained College Resources Over Free Tuition
While colleges' enrollments are up, colleges are not able to keep up even by hiring adequate staffing. Classes are doubled for some, while professors are struggling with overcrowding and insufficient resources. Professors argue that this is hard when there is so much more than before in a classroom but without more faculty and staff.
The lack of preparation for such growth has also caused confusion among students. NBC Boston shared that a student enrolled in a professor's online communications class with the intention of learning basic computer skills, an example of mismatched expectations and resources in an overburdened system.
The initiative of free tuition has opened doors to thousands of students, but success lies in the college's ability to get the right resources to keep up with increasing demands. As enrollments continue to grow, educators are calling upon state officials to bridge these gaps to ensure free community college becomes sustainable and works well for all, especially as free tuition expands more towards middle-income families, per the University Herald.
