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Bridgewater State to cover tuition for families earning less than $125K
The move follows similar announcements made by the University of Massachusetts, Brandeis University, and MIT.
Bridgewater State University will become the most affordable four-year state school in Massachusetts in the fall of 2025. The school announced it will then begin covering the full cost of tuition and mandatory fees for in-state undergraduate students whose families earn $125,000 or less annually.
It’s joining a growing collection of Massachusetts universities that have made similar commitments, including MIT, which will waive tuition for students from families earning less than $200,000, and Brandeis, which will cover tuition for students from families with incomes of less than $75,000. The University of Massachusetts announced in October that it would do the same, covering tuition for students with incomes of $75,000 at all four of its campuses.
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The program, called the Bridgewater Commitment, will be available to new and returning full-time undergraduate students enrolled in their first bachelor’s degree starting next fall. Students must complete the FAFSA and have lived in Massachusetts for at least two years before enrolling.
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“This initiative represents a transformative moment for our university and the communities we serve,” said Bridgewater State President Frederick Clark, Jr. in a statement.
In-state tuition at Bridgewater is $11,734 per year, plus $13,346 for housing & food and $1,200 for books. It estimates an additional $3,100 in miscellaneous costs, bringing the total to $29,380.
“I think the ultimate goal is that when a student comes to school, they don’t have to think about finances,” said Laura Biechler, head of financial aid at Bridgewater State University, in an interview after the announcement. “They’re there to learn and get their education and be able to move up in the socioeconomic ladder.”
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The origins of the Bridgewater Commitment go back four years, when Biechler and her team began to reexamine financial aid to make it inclusive to a larger number of families.
“The state and the feds had turned a lot of attention to support for Pell Grant groups, and of course that was our first priority,” Biechler said. “But then we moved beyond the students eligible for Pell Grants, with an understanding that students above the Pell Grant range may have more resources, but are still in dire need of additional assistance.”
Funding comes from philanthropy and fundraising efforts in addition to federal and state contributions. Biechler, who cited $90,000 as the average income for the middle class, said this will help students who are “firmly middle class.”
“For us to be able to announce something that’s inclusive, that goes far beyond the group of students we know has resource issues, that is truly for the middle class, is such an accomplishment,” Biechler said.
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