The Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts commits $500,000 over the next five years. This is to provide free financial aid guidance to students and families across the region.
Community Foundation ensures free aid access in every high school
The partnership is with College Affordable, a nonprofit offering high-touch financial aid advising. This makes North Central Massachusetts the first region in the state where every high school has coordinated access to expert financial aid guidance at no cost to families.
The initiative marks the first major project under the Community Foundation’s new strategic approach to grant-making. It also prioritizes deeper partnerships, longer-term investments, and measurable community impact.
The programme will feature group workshops and on-demand counselling for all students and families. It will also offer more intensive, individualised support for students facing significant financial or personal barriers.
“Rather than spreading resources thinly across many one-year grants, we’re making a substantial, multi-year commitment to an organisation that has proven it can transform lives,” said Stephen Adams, President of the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts.
He added that by ensuring every family in the region has access to expert financial aid guidance, they are removing a critical barrier to higher education. This will also create pathways to economic mobility for generations to come.
Financial aid often determines whether a student can pursue higher education,’ says College Affordable director
Brian Gardiner, Executive Director of College Affordable, noted that financial aid often determines whether a student can pursue higher education.
“Yet navigating the process can be overwhelming, especially for first-generation college students and families facing economic hardship,” Gardiner said.
He explained that this is a generous commitment from the Community Foundation. It allows them to ensure that every student in North Central Massachusetts, regardless of their zip code or family income, has access to the guidance they need to make college affordable.
In a separate development, the Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome (LGS) Foundation has announced plans for nationwide walks to raise funds for LGS research in the US. By the next decade, LGS hopes to move at least two disease-modifying therapies into trials, but first, it must clinch several low-hanging fruits.