Waiving tuition is the least we can do for “large families.”

Grandparents on the other hand The country is increasingly committed to raising grandchildren. Children of all races, ages, and socioeconomic levels live in homes where grandparents are their primary caregivers. These arrangements are sometimes referred to as “extended families.”

According to 2022 American Community Survey data, there were a total of 31,404 grandparents in Massachusetts raising 30,822 minor grandchildren, both with and without parents present.

A major reason grandparents have taken on this role in recent years is the country’s opioid crisis, which has left some parents unable to care for their children. Other reasons include child abuse and neglect, illness or death of a parent, incarceration and military deployment.

While some of these extended family arrangements are approved by state child welfare systems that grant formal guardianship to grandparents or authorize adoptions, the overwhelming share of grandparents in this role (94 percent) care for their grandchildren in informal arrangements outside of the child welfare system. Although there are a variety of reasons why grandparents enter into informal arrangements, they typically choose this structure to have greater control over their own decisions.

The day-to-day tasks of extended families in informal settings and those through the child welfare system are the same, but the help they receive from the state is not.

Large families created through the child welfare system are entitled to a range of financial subsidies, ranging from monthly foster care allowances to social security benefits. While it may not be possible to extend this assistance to the thousands of extended families living outside the child welfare system, Massachusetts offers families in the state system a benefit that should be available to all young people being raised by grandparents or other caregivers. Under a state program, all persons age 24 or younger who have been adopted or whose guardians have obtained custody through the Department of Children and Families are eligible for 100 percent tuition and fee remission at a public college or institution University of Massachusetts.

The Tuition and Fee Waiver Program can be a tremendous financial relief for grandparents who often struggle to fund their own retirement. The additional financial burden of raising their grandchildren is already a burden for many; It is often out of the question to take on the further responsibility of financing your studies. But that is precisely the situation facing the vast majority of extended families in Massachusetts, who are ineligible for tuition and fee waivers under the current system.

A bill pending in the Legislature (House 1257, Senate 819) would provide tuition and fee waivers at all public colleges and universities for children raised by a legally recognized caregiver, such as a grandparent or relative. This action would provide justice for these caregivers and the many children raised by relatives outside the child welfare system.

Business Insider It is estimated that the annual cost of raising a child in 2024 would be at least $25,714, not including the cost of higher education. According to the American Community Survey, grandparent caregivers earn about 47 percent of the median family income in Massachusetts ($43,039 compared to $90,892) and about half are still working. Many large families cannot rely on the grandchild’s parents for financial support because one or both parents have died or because the parents have no income or resources.

The lack of access to state benefits only further exacerbates the financial insecurity of large families. It would at least be a sensible step in the right direction to give young people in these families the opportunity to receive tuition and fee waivers at public higher education institutions.

It could also incentivize families to stay together without having to enter the child welfare system, potentially improving outcomes for both grandparents and grandchildren. By taking in children who would otherwise be in state care, large families also save taxpayers an estimated $4 billion per year, according to a UMass Chan Medical School study. This makes the tuition and fee waiver legislation a win not only for large families, but also for Massachusetts taxpayers.

As the days approach the end of the Legislature’s informal sessions this year, this bill will likely have to wait to be reintroduced in the new session that begins in January. If that’s the case, lawmakers should make it a priority to do right by the young people who are already going through great adversity and the grandparents who have been generous in their care.

Janelle Fassi is a fourth-year gerontology doctoral student at the University of Massachusetts Boston whose research focuses on grandparents raising grandchildren and intergenerational relationships. She was a fellow at the Civic Action Project, a Massachusetts nonprofit focused on training the next generation of civic leaders, and participated in the CommonWealth Beacon’s New Voices training program on effective op-ed writing, a partnership with the Civic Action Project and the Institute for Nonprofit Practice.

Related