In his annual State of the University message, distributed this week to nearly 400,000 UMass students, faculty, staff, alumni and supporters via email and the larger community via social media, University of Massachusetts President Marty Meehan called for a threefold expansion on enrollment in the university’s early college programs over the next five years.

This year’s address focuses on:

• Early college initiatives, which are making college more accessible and affordable for Massachusetts high school students, accelerating social and economic mobility across the state.
• The university’s leadership role in attracting, developing and retaining the talent that will define the future of the Commonwealth.

“Within the next five years, we plan to expand our early college initiatives to serve more than 2,000 high school students and broaden our early college reach to more rural areas of the state,” Meehan said in the video message, which can be watched below or on YouTube.

In his message, Meehan praised the Healey-Driscoll Administration and the Legislature for their support of increased financial aid for public higher education students and free community college tuition for students over age 25. He said diversifying the pathways to a four-year college degree is critical to attracting, developing, and sustaining a workforce that will keep the Commonwealth’s nation-leading innovation economy strong while accelerating socio-economic mobility across the state.

“Between our continued investment in financial aid, our expanding partnerships with community colleges, and our growing early college programs, UMass is demonstrating our deep, enduring and mission-driven commitment to accessibility and affordability,” Meehan said. “In a state like Massachusetts, driven by a knowledge and innovation economy, challenged by workforce shortages in important industries like healthcare and technology, and facing a declining population of college educated workers, expanding access to a college degree is critical to our collective future.”

Earlier this year, Meehan announced that the top 10% of the Commonwealth’s future community college graduates will receive a minimum of $5,000 per year above federal and private financial aid if they enroll at one of the four nationally ranked UMass campuses in Amherst, Boston, Dartmouth and Lowell.

Over the last decade, UMass has increased annual university-funded financial aid by 88% to $395 million, which has led to a reduction in average student debt and the percentage of students with any debt.