Bunker Hill Community College is one of the participants in Massachusetts early college program.Boston Globe
If there were a low-cost public education intervention that increased college completion rates for disadvantaged students â say, a policy that provided a return on investment of $15 for each dollar spent â wouldnât it be a no-brainer to fully embrace it?
Such a policy exists in Massachusetts, albeit in embryonic form. Itâs early college high schools, the partnership between high schools and local higher education institutions that allows 11th- and 12th-graders â typically low-income, Black, and Latino students â to take free college courses and help them transition into college. The concept has been around for a few years, but it has now evolved into a state-funded, certified program that includes nearly 40 high schools and 19 colleges and universities serving almost 2,900 students as of last fall.
COVID, Lawsuits And Racial Reckoning: The Year In Higher Education
Image by Getty Images, illustration by Emily Judem/GBH News
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2020 Higher Ed Year In Review
Ahead of spring break, college administrators were frantically adapting to the novel coronavirus. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brandeis University, Bunker Hill Community College and most other schools abruptly moved their classes online, sending thousands
of students packing.
As hospitals braced for a surge in patients with COVID-19, Tufts University President Tony Monaco suggested colleges with surplus dorm rooms should make them available as overflow ICU beds if needed.
“I believe this is our country’s Dunkirk moment,” Monaco said, referring to the World War II battle. “We need local efforts to help our local hospitals manage the number of patients and the spread through the community.”