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☁️ Mostly cloudy and humid with a high of 81. Sunset is at 8:25 p.m.
I began graduate school at an interesting and chaotic time. The year was 2009. The economy was tanking. Many of my friends, and many of their parents, were out of work (or soon would be). Print media was in a free-for-all to replace valuable advertising dollars lost to the internet, and I was part of my school’s first-ever “New Media” curriculum — which feels laughable now, as it was entirely focused on journalism on digital platforms that we now just know as…media. The first week of class, our professor led a workshop on how to connect with other journalists, share stories and find sources on a brand-new platform called Twitter. My New York City rent was exorbitantly high, as was tuition, as were the temps underground on the subway to and from school.
What a time to be alive.
I remember those early, heady, scary graduate school days (and nights, so many late nights!) all too well. And so I’ve followed with great interest my colleague Kirk Carapezza’s reporting on recent changes to federal student aid, part of the Trump administration’s overhaul of higher education financing, and how our local schools, economy and — most importantly — students will be impacted.
We’ll dig into that story in a minute, but first, the news:
Four Things to Know
1. A coalition of Massachusetts environmental groups says it is launching a summer boycott of Worcester-based Polar Beverages this week to protest the company’s opposition to expanded bottle recycling legislation. Environmental groups have been pushing for years to broaden the so-called “bottle bill” in Massachusetts. That’s the decades-old law that requires consumers to pay a 5-cent deposit on certain beverage containers. They want it to include plastic water bottles, nips and more, and increase the deposit from five cents to 10 cents.
2. The state will not accept applications for data center tax incentives until further notice, Gov. Maura Healey announced late last week while also rolling out guidance focused on energy independence and environmental impacts. Healey said the hold on applications for the 20-year sales and use tax exemption for qualified data centers — which she agreed to as part of a 2024 economic development law — will remain in effect “until we have strong protections in place for our residents and communities against higher gas and electric bills.”
3. Leaders in local government, support service organizations and legal nonprofits shared their fury at the State House last week following a Supreme Court decision that could jeopardize the legal status of more than 19,000 Haitians in Massachusetts. The court ruled to allow the Trump administration to end temporary protected status for hundreds of thousands of immigrants from Haiti and Syria. The state is reviewing what can be done while the case returns to the lower courts — and what will happen in the meantime.
4. Throughout June, the Tartan Army of Scotland soccer fans descended upon Boston for the World Cup, and locals fell in love. They promised a party, and that’s exactly what they delivered. The festive vibes and new friendships have even led to plans to make Boston and Glasgow, Scotland’s largest city, sister cities. Learn more from guest host Tori Bedford’s conversation with Susan Aitken, leader of the Glasgow City Council, on Morning Edition.
Will new federal student loan caps make grad school more affordable or less attainable?
By Kirk Carapezza
In September, 23-year old Bella Ramirez will become the first person in her family to attend graduate school after navigating the law school admissions process largely on her own.
“It’s really nerve-wracking to be looking at all of these different things and trying to assess everything based on online forums and talking to people and getting secondhand information,” said the recent Boston University graduate from Pembroke Pines, Florida. “I really can’t turn to my parents and say, ‘What did you do in this situation?’ because they’re turning to me and asking me questions.”
Earlier this spring, Ramirez withdrew from the waitlists at three top-tier law schools, deciding that new federal loan caps set to take effect July 1 would make those schools financially out of reach.
“I emailed them and I said, ‘Hey, because of these new restrictions, this is no longer seeming like a possibility,'” she recalled.
The major changes to federal student aid are part of the Trump administration’s overhaul of higher education financing. Starting next month, low-income students will gain expanded federal support for career and technical training. But for the first time, many graduate students like Ramirez will face strict limits on how much they can borrow from the federal government.
Read more from Carapezza’s reporting here.
✏️ Dig Deeper
- State education board members worry about timing, budget for new graduation requirements
- Massachusetts makes $25M bet on quantum research lab at MIT
- Colleges, looking to build back trust, embrace cost transparency
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