Massachusetts
Massachusetts already has too few nurses. New student loan limits could make the shortage worse. – The Boston Globe
Now, though, Binfaah is reconsidering. New rules passed by Congress last summer as part of President Trump’s signature tax legislation cap what Binfaah and students who pursue some advanced degrees, from teaching to social work, can borrow for graduate work to $100,000. That, she said, is not enough to pay for graduate school.
“I come from a low-income background. I’ll have to rely on loans. I don’t think $100,000 is reasonable,” she said. ”If I don’t have the means by then, I think I would just delay it, push things back.”
The new loan limit is part of a push by the Trump administration to rein in runaway tuition costs and the eye-popping levels of student debt so many graduates are struggling to repay. The rules apply not just to nursing but to nearly all graduate programs except for 11 degrees the government deems as “professional,” such as medicine, dentistry, and law. But those, too, are held to a strict loan cap of $200,000, still unlikely to cover the cost of attendance.
Few industries stand to be affected more than nursing, and that in turn could have a huge domino effect on one of the state’s most important and prestigious industries: health care.
Today, nurses are filling gaps in care left by other medical professions, providing a core function of care in a region where hospitals are among the largest employers and contributors to the economy.
And a greater number of nurses are responding to the need, attending graduate school to move up the career ladder, avoid burnout, and expand their earning power. Nurse practitioners, for instance, typically make around $120,000 a year in Massachusetts, 50 percent more than registered nurses without graduate degrees. By 2034, their ranks are projected to grow 60 percent here as physicians are in short supply.
Already, one in 10 nursing jobs in Massachusetts is vacant, according to the Massachusetts Health and Hospital Association. Studies warn that further reducing the ranks of advanced nurses would result in longer wait times, higher mortality rates, and greater reliance on emergency rooms that are already overwhelmed. Moreover, the loan caps could lead fewer people to pursue advanced degrees in specialties such as oncology, anesthesiology, and neonatal care at a time when that expertise is in great demand.
The new cap is “foolish and shortsighted,” said Joan Vitello-Cicciu, dean of the graduate school of nursing at UMass Chan. “It’s going to be a vicious cycle. People are not looking at all the unintended consequences.”
Suzanne Kreiter/Globe Staff
Federal officials say that leaving nursing and other fields outside the professional designation is not a “value judgement” on their importance. Only a sliver of the country’s 4.3 million nurses — including around 95,000 in Massachusetts — have graduate degrees, according to a fact sheet from the US Department of Education. Most who attend graduate school borrow less than $100,000, the department wrote.
The rule change, according to conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute, is simply a “practical decision to ensure that nurses avoid excessive student debt burdens.”
But a recent survey by the American Association of Colleges of Nursing found that 82 percent of nursing students believe the loan limits will make it harder to finance graduate education. The group warned the burden will likely land hardest on low-income students who tend to borrow more money for higher education.
Sarah Romaine, a nursing professor at Elms College in Chicopee, worries some students, particularly from working-class backgrounds, will eschew careers in advanced nursing.
“A fair number of the students that I have at Elms are working parents making basically minimum wage,” she said. “They really need a loan to get by … Plenty of nurses do very well, but the start is a struggle.”
In 2022, almost half of nurses pursuing advanced degrees used federally assisted loans, according to data from the Department of Health and Human Services. At least one-fifth of nursing graduate students borrow more than $100,000 to complete their degree, AACN found.
“I had lunch with [nursing] students in December,” said Julia Mason, chief nursing officer at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. “And they were worried about the future, about what they would be able to afford.”
Another factor is the rising cost of graduate nursing programs. Some estimates show that average nursing tuition is up by as much as 15 percent since 2020. Academic courses are increasingly complex, training equipment is expensive, and faculty salaries gobble up a sizable chunk of the budget at nursing schools, which compete for labor with better-paying hospitals and biotechnology companies.
Supporters of the new borrowing rules, and some nurses, said the limits will put downward pressure on tuition — a notion most higher education administrators dispute.
“I would love to move away from a debt-financed higher education system,” said Persis Yu, deputy executive director and managing council at Protect Borrowers, a nonprofit dedicated to improving the student loan system. “But that requires real investment in higher education, both on the federal and state level. What this does is restrict access on one end, without providing the funding on the other end.”
Dr. Robbie Goldstein, commissioner of the Massachusetts Department of Public Health, said in a statement, “the federal loan cap has the possibility of dramatically changing the applicant pool and advancing only those who can afford the high cost of education, leading to less diversity and lived experience among those who are able to work in the state.”
There’s also concern the caps could force more students toward lower-quality graduate nursing programs, said Maura Abbott, dean of nursing at the MGH Institute of Health Professions in Charlestown. (Tuition for an MGH nurse practitioner doctoral degree costs almost $60,000, and housing, equipment, and other expenses can push the cost of attendance much higher.)
“We know the outcomes for patients who receive care from those schools are not as strong as nurses who go to high-quality programs,” she said.
The rationale for excluding nursing and other professions from the list of “professional” degrees that are subject to the higher $200,000 borrowing limit dates to the Higher Education Act of 1965, which at the time designated just 10 graduate degrees that way. Among them were medicine, law, dentistry, theology, and podiatry, which typically require an advanced degree to practice. (Theology was included on the assumption students would pursue clergy positions with their degrees.) Fields such as business, teaching, social work, and nursing, where one could initially get a job with a bachelor’s degree or less, were left off the list.
That 1965 definition had never been used to determine who could borrow for federal loans, and how much — until now.
Congress pointed to this 1965 definition as a starting point to determine what fields should be considered in this professional category, although Congress did not explicitly say that only the original 10 degrees should be included. A committee writing the rules added clinical psychology, but no others.
Workforce needs were not a part of the decision-making process, said Alex Ricci, president at the National Council of Higher Education Resources, a member of the rule-writing committee. Since Congress is explicitly trying to limit loans, the group largely deferred to their initial guidance, he added.
“There was no nod in law for exceptions for areas of high need, and so we were limited in how expansive we could be,” Ricci said. “If we got that wrong, Congress has every opportunity to revisit their legislative language and make it more clear to the department and to the higher education community what exactly they meant and who should get access to additional loans.”
Now, some colleges are trying to drum up new sources for student loans, partnering with state governments, philanthropies, and both non- and for-profit lenders to supplement lost federal dollars.
Yale and the University of Pennsylvania have forged deals with private lenders in preparation for a dropoff in federal funding, Bloomberg reported. And at Regis College in Weston, donors stepped in to fund students in the Doctor of Nursing Practice program for two years.
“But there is still a significant loss of funding for future nursing faculty,” said Regis president Antoinette Hayes.
At the same time, other programs that help pay for advanced nursing degrees are disappearing. Public Service Loan Forgiveness — a program over half of nurses hoped to use in 2017, the most recent data available — has been scaled back significantly. Trump hopes to close the National Institute of Nursing Research, which helps fund some nursing PhDs. And the Nursing Faculty Loan Program, which offers loan forgiveness to nurses who teach for four years after graduation, is on an indefinite pause.
Together, the changes threaten to put a chilling effect on the pipeline for new nurses and nursing school faculty.
Melissa Anne Dubois, a nursing PhD candidate at UMass Chan, said her faculty loan funding for her final year of school is gone, a year earlier than she expected, forcing her to seek out private loans.
“I’m in a good place because it is only a couple of semesters,” she said. “But if this started in 2023, if this happened when I was starting to go back to school, this might’ve been the thing that made me go, ‘I guess this isn’t going to happen for me.’ ”
Binfaah, the nursing student at BC, already somewhat feels that way.
”When it’s time for me to go back to school, things are not going to be the same,” she said. “It honestly feels like, they don’t want me to go to school. That’s what it feels like.”
This story was produced by the Globe’s Money, Power, Inequality team, which covers the racial wealth gap in Greater Boston. You can sign up for the newsletter here.
Diti Kohli can be reached at diti.kohli@globe.com. Follow her @ditikohli_. Mara Kardas-Nelson can be reached at mara.kardas-nelson@globe.com.
Massachusetts
Body camera video shows Massachusetts police officer save 78-year-old man from burning truck – East Idaho News
EASTON, Mass. (WBZ) — Police body camera video shows an Easton, Massachusetts, officer rescuing a 78-year-old Raynham man from a burning car on Friday morning.
A Mack dump truck was experiencing problems on the side of Turnpike Street just after 2 a.m. when a Ford pickup truck struck the back of it, according to police.
The pickup truck then became stuck under the dump truck, trapping the driver, Francis Leverone, inside. A Toyota Camry then hit the back of the pickup truck and caught fire, police said.
Easton police officer Dean Soucie arrived at the crash and saw that the two vehicles were on fire. Video shows Soucie rushing over before breaking the driver’s side window and then, with the help of the two witnesses, freeing Leverone from the pickup truck. Soucie said he was confused but conscious.
“As I reached inside the vehicle, one of the passersby — he actually jumped into the cab of the truck, and he helped me free the individual,” Soucie said.
They then carried the driver to safety.
Leverone was taken to a nearby hospital before being transferred to a Boston hospital. He received serious but non-life-threatening injuries.
No one else was injured in the crash.
Dee Leverone told WBZ her husband is doing OK. “I’m just thankful for the people that got him out,” she said. “Very thankful.”
After watching the police body-cam video on the news she said, “I was shocked, I was like ‘Oh my God!’ I just couldn’t believe it. His truck is like melted.”
She says she realized that something was wrong last night when her husband never made it home from work.
“I kept trying to call him and call him, and I finally got a hold of him at like 4:30 a.m., and he was at (Good Samaritan Hospital) and he told me he’s gotten in an accident,” Dee said.
She says he’s recovering at the Boston Medical Center and being treated for a dislocated hip.
“He’s a trooper,” Dee said. “He’s a strong man — and you know he’s 78, but you know he’s a toughie. He definitely is a toughie.”
Soucie commended the help of the two witnesses and said that before he arrived at the crash, they had attempted to put out the flames with a fire extinguisher and removed a gasoline tank from the pickup truck before it could ignite.
“They jumped into action like it was nothing,” Soucie said. “Those two individuals were absolutely awesome.”
Easton Police Chief Keith Boone said that he is “extremely proud” of Soucie and the witnesses.
“He saved a life last night,” Chief Boone said. “He is an exemplary police officer and this is just one example. I think he’s a hero.”
Turnpike Street was closed for several hours following the crash. Easton Police are investigating.
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A fire broke out Sunday morning in Townsend, Massachusetts.
The Townsend Fire department said shortly before 7 a.m. that firefighters were on scene for a structure fire on Dudley Road.
People have been asked to avoid the area.
The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services said state police fire investigators assigned to the state fire marshal’s office are responding to assist the Townsend Fire Department.
There was no immediate word on any injuries, or any information on what caused the fire. It’s also unclear if the large snow piles in the area impeded access to fire hydrants, as was the case at the house explosion in Taunton last week.
This developing story will be updated when we learn more
Massachusetts
Eight high school takeaways from the midst of the state tournaments, plus a new Attleboro football coach – The Boston Globe
Throw in Newton North winning its first state gymnastics title in 54 years, two Natick runners (and one from Oliver Ames) capturing New England titles, a last-minute goal from St. John’s (Shrewsbury) boys’ hockey to eliminate BC High, and plenty of overtime thrillers, and you get an all-time action-packed day.
Find all the scores here, and take a moment to browse all of our coverage:
Not seeing your team’s highlights in Takeaways? Here are all the ways to submit scores and stats to Globe Schools via phone, email, and social media.
▪ With a deep 3-pointer in the first quarter of Greater New Bedford’s 68-43 win over Springfield International, junior Jai-Ana Silva became the program’s leading scorer, surpassing Stephanie Antoine’s 1,493 points, set in 2012. Silva finished with 31 points and now sits at 1,513. Earlier this season, she became the fourth female 1,000-point scorer in school history.
▪ With 30 points in a 90-68 win over Quincy, Beverly senior Jacob Klass surpassed Peter Wynne’s scoring mark of 1,351, set in 1981. Klass, who reached 1,000 earlier this season, has 1,371.
▪ Concord-Carlisle senior goalie Sam Griswold made 44 saves, including the 1,000th of his career, in a 2-1 win over Woburn.
▪ Hoosac Valley senior Qwanell Bradley joined the 1,000-point club on a 3-pointer during a 78-59 Division 5 first-round win over Pacific Rim Charter.
▪ A pair of Bulldogs reached 100 points in Canton’s 9-0 smackdown of Somerset Berkley. Senior defenseman Teddy Shuman got there with a goal and three assists, and senior center Joey Ryan also reached the mark with three helpers.
▪ Taunton junior Jamie Vallarelli matched the school’s points record, joining Jeff Gallagher (’94) with 139, by notching a goal and adding an assist on the overtime tally that kept the Tigers’ season alive with a 3-2 win over Middleborough.
The single-digit seeds are starting to fall.
Saturday saw the first three top-five seeded teams sent home, with No. 3 St. John’s Prep boys’ hockey getting taken down by No. 14 Arlington Catholic in Division 1 action — the highest seed sent home through the first five days of the tournament.
The highest-ranked team to be bounced from the Division 2 boys’ hockey bracket became No. 5 Woburn. It fell, 2-1, to No. 12 Concord-Carlisle, which got an incredible 44-save performance from senior Sam Griswold and goals from Ben Brooks and Joe Grasso.
Division 3 also saw a top-five falter, as No. 5 Pembroke was clipped by No. 13 Norwood, 3-1, in the second round. John Lynch, Anthony Parise, and Mark Trahon provided the goals.
Not to be left out, Division 4 boys’ hockey also saw a significant upset, with No. 23 Bourne riding Jackson Palmborg’s 26 saves to a 3-2 first-round win over No. 10 Hudson.
On the hardcourt, No. 24 Pembroke boys’ basketball didn’t mind a morning ferry ride to Martha’s Vineyard, taking down the ninth-seeded hosts, 65-50, behind Will Farrell’s 24 points.
▪ Seventh-grader Effie Parsons found the net with 31 seconds left in overtime as No. 2 St. Mary’s girls’ hockey escaped a strong upset attempt from No. 18 Winchester, which led, 2-1, before Alyssa Norden tied it up in the third period.
▪ Reading sophomore Payton Curran not only delivered the equalizer in the final minute of regulation, but provided the overtime winner to lift the Rockets to a 3-2 girls’ hockey win over Waltham.
▪ Nantucket’s Gaven Smith forced overtime against Swampscott with a 3-pointer with nine seconds left in regulation, but the fourth-seeded Big Blue rode 26 points from Connor Chiarello and 25 from Teddy O’Neill to a 67-61 win over the No. 29 Whalers.
▪ No. 25 Bishop Fenwick girls’ hockey nearly upset No. 8 Bishop Stang, which would have eliminated both of last year’s Division 1 finalists, but the Spartans survived, 1-0, on junior Alexis Pettinato’s overtime winner.
▪ Braden LaChance netted the overtime winner for Taunton, which survived Middleborough, 3-2, in the third matchup between the two programs in 12 days. The Tigers won, 4-1, on Feb. 16 at Aleixo Arena before Middleborough prevailed, 4-0, on Feb. 18 at Bridgewater Ice Arena.
▪ Nico Santella scored on a stick-side snipe with 42.2 seconds left to propel St. John’s (Shrewsbury) past BC High, 2-1, in a Division 1 second-round matchup of Catholic Conference rivals.
Cal Atherton, Newburyport — The senior erupted for 31 points, guiding the Clippers to a first-round win over the defending Division 2 champions, Somerset Berkley.
Allen Brown Jr., Holbrook — The senior poured in 32 points, the highest total reported to the Globe on Saturday, to lead the Bulldogs past Boston Prep, 66-45 and into the second round.
Amelia Crowe, Pentucket — Amelia Crowe caught fire from deep, draining eight 3-pointers en route to 27 points and a 40-33 first-round win over Seekonk.
Addy Harrington, Duxbury — The senior produced one of the night’s three hat tricks, scoring thrice in a 4-2 second-round win over Melrose.
Levi McNally, Barnstable — Just a sophomore, he netted a hat trick for the Red Hawks in a 5-2 first-round win over Minnechaug.
Cam Melone, Hanover — The senior went for 5 points, scoring twice and assisting thrice in a 6-1 second-round win over Lynnfield.
Georgia Murray, Bishop Feehan — The junior scored a natural hat trick in the first period and finished with four goals in a 6-2 second-round win over Acton-Boxborough.
Celia Neilson, Bishop Fenwick — The senior captain contributed across the board, providing 23 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, and 8 steals for the top-seeded Crusaders in a 58-27 waxing of Wilmington.
Jackie Pohl and Jenna Oman, East Bridgewater — Pohl, a sophomore, and Oman, a junior, were everywhere in a 63-39 first-round win over Bellingham. Pohl finished with 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 8 assists, and Oman had 15 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals.
Attleboro High has a new football coach. Lamont Penn, a Bridgewater-Raynham assistant under Eian Bain, will take over the Bombardiers. They went 3-8 last year under Jim Winters, who helmed the program for four seasons, going 14-30.
Penn served as Norwood’s offensive coordinator from 2018-21. He was introduced to the team Friday.
Providence junior Jon Mignacca, a Bishop Feehan graduate from Seekonk, won the Big East high jump championship, clearing 6 feet, 8.25 inches (2.04 meters) to beat out UConn’s Enaji Muhammad (6-7).
▪ UMass Dartmouth sophomore Ancil Alexander, a Taunton graduate, was named Little East Conference Field Athlete of the Year for men’s indoor track after taking second at the LEC Championships in the shot put (51 feet, 3.75 inches). He won the event three times during the season.
▪ UMass Dartmouth freshman Michael Veegh, a Bishop Stang graduate from Tiverton (R.I.), was named Little East Conference men’s indoor track Rookie of the Year. He won the 400 at the LEC Championships (50.54 seconds) and was part of the second-place 4×400 relay (3:28.67). He was also named All-LEC first team.
▪ Keene State junior Tyler Bolaske, a Palmer graduate, was tabbed as the Little East Conference’s male Track Athlete of the Year after leading the Owls to their first indoor championship since 2008. Bolaske won the mile at the LEC Championships in 4:11 and was runner-up in the 800 (1:59.25).
Georgia Murray, Bishop Feehan, 4
Addy Harrington, Duxbury, 3
Levi McNally, Barnstable, 3
Riley Bergeron, Acton-Boxborough, 2
Brayden Boczenowski, Arlington Catholic, 2
Cate Buckler, Barnstable, 2
Abigail Burke, Notre Dame (H), 2
Payton Curran, Reading, 2
Hannah D’Angelo, Pembroke, 2
Luke Dickson, Medfield, 2
Colman Donohue, Hingham, 2
Will Doucette, Canton, 2
Ryan Elrick, Canton, 2
Jack McCourt, Catholic Memorial, 2
Cam McKenna, Hingham, 2
Cam Melone, Hanover, 2
Joe Pumphret, Winthrop, 2
Nolan Russell, Arlington, 2
Sabrina Stone, Milton, 2
Ella Sullivan, Pembroke, 2
Connor Hines, Hanover, 3
Cam Melone, Hanover, 3
Joe Ryan, Canton, 3
Teddy Shuman, Canton, 3
Abigail Burke, Notre Dame (H), 2
Kellen Labanara, Canton, 2
Hunter McClain, Bourne, 2
Sam Griswold, Concord-Carlisle, 44
Stephen Camara, Arlington Catholic, 33
Jackson Palmborg, Bourne, 26
Jaxson Fleming, Catholic Memorial, 24
Jim Lyman, Winthrop, 22
Colin McCarthy, St. John’s Shrewsbury, 21
Lydia Barnes, Methuen/Tewksbury, 18
Dom Conte, BC High, 18
John Snider, Arlington, 15
Vivienne Melo, Bishop Stang, 14
8. Basketball leaderboard
Allen Brown, Holbrook, 32
Cal Atherton, Newburyport, 31
Jacob Klass, Beverly, 30
Elian Rodriguez, Salem, 30
Mike Berry, Cape Cod Academy, 28
Elian Rodriguez, Salem, 28
Tyler Staiti, Abington, 28
Amelia Crowe, Pentucket, 27
Jag Garces, West Bridgewater, 27
Connor Chiarello, Swampscott, 26
Sysy Emmanuel, St. Mary’s, 26
Dom Taylor, Somerset Berkley, 26
Michael Cimetti, Hull, 25
Grant Neal, Lynnfield, 25
Teddy O’Neill, Swampscott, 25
Will Farrell, Pembroke, 24
Logan Volkringer, Plymouth South, 24
Celia Neilson, Bishop Fenwick, 23
Julian Allison-Cardoso, Dedham, 22
Mateo Jackson, Bridgewater-Raynham, 22
Tori White, Canton, 22
Tori Adams, Walpole, 21
Liam Conneely, Hull, 20
Jackie Pohl, East Bridgewater, 20
Kingston Maxwell, Abington, 15
Krem Amparo, Latin Academy, 14
Mateo Jackson, Bridgewater-Raynham, 14
Bella Bingham, Walpole, 13
Sadie Hartley-Matteson, Old Rochester, 13
Devyn Walsh, Pentucket, 13
A’laya Colbert, North Quincy, 12
Zade Garron Ciberay, Plymouth South, 12
Mike Ekweanya, New Mission, 11
Chase Groothuis, Swampscott, 11
Teddy O’Neill, Swampscott, 11
Brooke Connor, Canton, 10
Jenna Oman, East Bridgewater, 10
Hannah Thorell, Old Rochester, 10
Jackie Pohl, East Bridgewater, 8
Kingston Maxwell, Abington, 7
Jacob Klass, Beverly, 6
Celia Neilson, Bishop Fenwick, 6
Luke Tirrell, Bridgewater-Raynham, 6
Sydney Bosma, Old Rochester, 5
Cason Faulk, Bridgewater-Raynham, 5
Manny Valentino, New Mission, 5
Grace Goudreau, Seekonk, 4
Sadie Hartley-Matteson, Old Rochester, 4
Celia Neilson, Bishop Fenwick, 8
Emma Farrell, East Bridgewater, 6
Connor Chiarello, Swampscott, 5
Sienna Miranda, Seekonk, 4
Brooke Connor, Canton, 3
Zade Garron Ciberay, Plymouth South, 3
Brendan Kurie can be reached at brendan.kurie@globe.com. Follow him on X @BrendanKurie.
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