Patrick’s ‘14 budget benefits mapped in online tool
An online map tool released Wednesday reveals the impact that Mass. Gov. Deval Patrick’s 2014 budget proposal will have on transportation and education funding in each district if the legislature passes it in 2013. “We hope people will see that, through this budget proposal, the city or town will be funded — transportation and education,” […]
CFPB aims to gather public input on private loan
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking to gather input on private student loans from borrowers and lenders, a policy Boston University faculty and students said will bring beneficial reform and lead to fewer student loan defaults. “The data are pretty clear that students are stuck with huge amounts of loans and then they default […]
Tax-based aid needs reform, report suggests
Redirecting tax-based aid to be more available for low-income students could both increase college enrollment and completion rates for such students, and serve to strengthen the economy, according to a new report. “The reason it [tax-based aid] is more accessible to higher-income families is that the aid is delivered through the income tax system,” said […]
Proposed minimum wage in Mass. would reach 11 dollars
Massachusetts legislators are considering a bill that, if passed, would gradually increase the minimum wage to $11/hour over the next three years — an even more ambitious wage increase than that proposed by U.S. President Barack Obama. Massachusetts’s minimum wage is one of the highest in the country, but state legislators are concerned that $8 […]
Sen. Brownsberger proposes taxation power for MBTA
In an attempt to alleviate the highest debt burden of any U.S. transit agency, Massachusetts politicians proposed a regional tax imposed by the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority in the operating areas of the transit service. “The state needs to solve the problem that the [MBTA] has,” said Mass. Sen. William Brownsberger, author of the proposal. […]
