Mayor Martin J. Walsh announced today that Urban College of Boston (UCB) will become the sixth college to join the City’s Tuition-Free Community College (TFCC) Plan, which pays for up to three years of tuition and mandatory fees, as well as college-related expenses. The Plan is funded by the Neighborhood Jobs Trust, which collects fees from large-scale commercial developments to support job training and education programs.
“There’s been a lot of conversation about the development going into Boston right now,” Walsh said. “What comes out of development is free community college. [Without it] we’re not here today talking about expanding free community college.”
Mayor Walsh made the announcement at The BASE, a Roxbury-based nonprofit that supports student-athletes through baseball training and competition, education, and career resources. Since 2016, The BASE has partnered with Urban College of Boston to provide onsite college courses.
Stephanie Baez, a Roslindale student who is the first from her family to go to college, is a UCB student who has taken all her classes at The BASE.
“Most of us in this program can’t afford the price of college tuition, and most of us are the first generation in our families to attend college,” she said. “This partnership with the Mayor creates a lot of opportunities for other young people, just like us.”
She added: “Nothing is guaranteed in life, but having a degree is like having insurance, because when you have a degree, you have options, and the degree is yours for life.”
Mayor Walsh has advocated for the creation of statewide tuition-free college in his support of Bill H.1245 An Act Establishing Tuition-Free Community College in Massachusetts.
“Young people of the Commonwealth deserve the same opportunity that so far 500 people have [through the Tuition-Free Community College Plan],” he said.