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Healey commits $2.5 billion to modernizing Massachusetts’ public higher education campuses
The bill is the largest proposed investment in state universities including the UMass system and community colleges in decades.
Governor Maura Healey announced a bond bill filed Tuesday that will be the largest proposed infrastructure investment in Massachusetts’ public higher education system in decades.
An Act to Build Resilient Infrastructure to Generate Higher Education Transformation, or the BRIGHT Act, will include improvements to the campuses from better classrooms to more housing.
“It’s going to create labs, facilities that meet the needs of today, including life sciences — health facilities, housing development, art spaces, and more,” Healey said during her announcement Tuesday at Bridgewater State University.
The announcement came after Healey toured Bridgewater State University’s Cyber Range, where students learn in-demand cybersecurity skills. The center’s value goes beyond the campus’s typical students: regional high school students sometimes visit, as do employees from area cities and companies who want to learn how to improve their cybersecurity systems.
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“Massachusetts is home to the best education system in the country, thanks in large part to our public community colleges, our state universities, and our UMass system,” said Matthew Gorzkowicz, Healey’s administration and finance secretary. “Today we’re taking a major step forward to ensure that these institutions can continue to set the bar high for affordable, accessible public education.”
The buildouts that will come with the bill are expected to create approximately 15,000 construction jobs.
It will be funded by leveraging Fair Share surtax revenue, which is meant to be used for education or transportation purposes. By May of its first year in effect, state officials announced that the surtax had generated more than $1.8 billion in revenue.
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Gorzkowicz said the money will be used to address “mounting deferred maintenance needs” in addition to “building modern new classrooms, upgrading and decarbonizing energy systems, and outfitting labs with cutting-edge technology.”
The push to modernize campuses with improved facilities is the latest in a string of education-related action by Healey during her time in office. In November, she announced that tuition will be free within the UMass system for all Massachusetts residents from households with an adjusted gross income of $75,000 or less. Last week, she announced a plan to get every 4-year-old in gateway cities into pre-k by the end of 2026.
The administration hopes the capital improvements will not only attract new students, but make the ones already there want to stick around.
“You’re the future of our state,” Healey said. “You’re also the now. We want you to know that.”
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