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Grandparents and Guardians Ask Legislature to Extend College Fee Waivers to Kinship Caregivers
Summary
Multiple grandparents, kinship caregivers and commission leaders testified in support of bills (H.1428 / S.924 and related measures) to extend Massachusetts tuition-and-fee waivers to students raised by legal kinship guardians outside the Department of Children and Families (DCF). Witnesses described fixed incomes, added caregiving costs and
Boston Grandparents and kinship guardians urged the Joint Committee on Higher Education to extend long-standing tuition-and-fee waivers that currently apply to youth in DCF custody to young adults raised under legal guardianship by relatives.
Representative Salvatore Donato and testifying advocates noted that Chapter 15A, section 19 currently provides tuition-and-fee waivers for certain youth who were in DCF custody or adopted from DCF, but guardianship outside DCF often leaves families without the same supports. Joseph O'Leary, chairman of the Commission on the Status of Grandparents Raising Grandchildren, told the committee the omission is a matter of equity: "It is simply a matter of equity to provide young adults raised in legal guardianship outside DCF with the same tuition and fee waivers as those raised within it." O'Leary recounted the limits of probate guardianship supports versus foster-parent benefits.
Multiple grandparents described the financial strain of raising school-age and college-bound grandchildren on Social Security, small pensions, or fixed incomes. "I will be 89, God willing, when she graduates. How in the world can I pay for her college at that age?" asked Judy Walter, a 76-year-old guardian. Another speaker, Sandra Vecchio, noted medical and special-education costs: "We don't get the same benefits that DCF get... a majority of us are on fixed incomes."
Witnesses and advocates recommended amending the statute to clarify that tuition-and-fee waivers cover all courses (including night and weekend classes and adjunct-taught sections) and apply to kinship guardianship arrangements established through the probate court. Rachel Gueltney of the Children's League of Massachusetts and Hopewell's policy director Kat Keram submitted data offers and said the change would remove a barrier that can cause youth to discontinue higher education.
Committee members asked for additional written data on the numbers affected and historic implementation; witnesses offered to provide source materials and DCF data to quantify the eligible population.
No formal committee vote occurred during the hearing.
