MA Dept. of Higher Education approved the regulations for the enhanced MAIPSE

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate release: May 7, 2025

Massachusetts Board of Higher Education Approves Regulations that Enhance Postsecondary Opportunities for Students with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities

Boston, MA — May 7, 2025 —The Massachusetts Board of Higher Education (BHE) has approved state regulations that aim to improve the accessibility of postsecondary education for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities through the Massachusetts Inclusive Postsecondary Education Initiative (MAIPSE).

MAIPSE is designed for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities to take postsecondary education courses alongside fellow college students and participate in college life, including social events, clubs, and recreation activities. Students enrolled in MAIPSE are either high school students in a secondary transition program or those who have exited the school system and receive support from state service agencies.

UMass Boston and the Institute for Community Inclusion (ICI) are longstanding MAIPSE partners. For 25 years, ICI has worked to support the development of inclusive higher education programs for students with intellectual disability in Massachusetts and across the US.

The ICI’s Massachusetts Center for Inclusive Higher Education and Transition offers support and training to education coaches, peer mentors, college program coordinators, special education administrators, and transition coordinators who work on MAIPSE across the state. The Inclusive Education Initiative, which is the UMass Boston MAIPSE partnership, also offers postsecondary experiences to eligible students with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

The Director of the Massachusetts Center for Inclusive Higher Education and Transition, Maria Paiewonsky, shares about the impact of these new state regulations:

"Finalizing regulations for Massachusetts’ new law, Creating Higher Education Opportunities for Students with Intellectual Disabilities, Autism, and Other Developmental Disabilities, reflects the Commonwealth’s commitment and leadership in advancing inclusive postsecondary education. It affirms the right of individuals with IDD and autism to pursue college and prepare for full participation in civic, social, and economic life."

The Healy-Driscol Administration and Massachusetts Legislature appointed ICI to serve on the 21-member taskforce that advised on how to enhance meaningful access to higher educational opportunities for students with IDD and culminated in these new regulations.

The regulations will continue to strengthen MAIPSE’s partnerships with UMass Boston and other public institutes of higher education as well as with state health and human services agencies that support people with disabilities.

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Read the full press release from the Massachusetts Department of Higher Education.