To address Mississippi’s workforce shortage, some lawmakers are considering a bill that would create a program to help eligible students better afford an associate degree or professional credential in in-demand industries at the state’s community colleges.
Senate Bill 2522 would create the UPSKILL Mississippi Grant Program, a state-funded initiative that would provide last-dollar scholarships, which would cover the remaining balance owed after all other financial aid and scholarships are applied. UPSKILL would also provide a $500 annual stipend for books, transportation, child care and other materials. The Mississippi Office of Student Financial Aid would oversee the program.
So far, there is bipartisan support for the effort, which passed the Senate on Feb. 9 and awaits consideration in two House committees before a March 3 deadline — Universities and Colleges; and Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency.
The proposal focuses on helping working adults or non-traditional students, a population with few resources or support outside of federal financial aid, said Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford and chair of the Senate Universities and Colleges Committee.
“We have so many working Mississippians and adults that don’t have a certificate or some compilation of skills or a college degree to help them,” said Boyd, who authored the bill. “And with this specific population of individuals, those last dollars are critical.”
UPSKILL would benefit adults interested in “high-demand, high priority” careers such as plumbing, HVAC technicians and construction, said Courtney Taylor, executive director of Accelerate MS, the state’s workforce development agency. Accelerate MS would be responsible for identifying a list of eligible training programs.
“We really need to have a mechanism that encourages more individuals to go into a job,” Taylor said. “So officials have been working behind the scenes to understand how this potential opportunity could work with federal and state resources to ensure we’re helping people get into these jobs we have available right now.”
Sen. Nicole Boyd, a Republican from Oxford, is the author of Senate Bill 2522, which would establish the UPSKILL Mississippi Grant Program.Since December, Mississippi lawmakers and higher education officials have been discussing ways to encourage more residents to earn a degree or credential to boost the state’s workforce and, eventually, the economy. About 12% of Mississippi residents have some college experience but no degree.
If SB 2522 becomes law, the pilot UPSKILL program would roll out at a few community colleges in spring 2027.
Lawmakers modeled the proposed bill after similar initiatives in states across the country, Boyd said.
Tennessee established the Tennessee Reconnect grant in 2018, a last-dollar tuition scholarship program for adults returning to community or technical college.The program helped increase college enrollment by 45.1% compared to the previous year among adults who returned to college through the program, and upped credential completion 15.2%, according to 2025 data from the Tennessee Higher Education Commission.
In 2021, Michigan established a similar program that significantly increased adult community college enrollment by 38%, or roughly 620 students, in its first year, according to researchers from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
States’ recent efforts to invest in tuition-free college signify a growing push to provide residents a free path to higher education or training, said Brad Hershbien, senior economist and deputy director of research at the W.E Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
“Ultimately, this work requires time, effort and patience,” Hershbien said.
For Mississippi lawmakers and education officials, a pilot program may not be a sufficient way to gauge UPSKILL’s initial impact if it is created. Lawmakers and higher education officials should be aware of limits to collecting data for a pilot program, said Michelle Miller-Adams, a senior researcher at the Upjohn Institute.
SB 2522 calls for students to enroll into specific programs of study to be eligible for the last-dollar scholarship. Those restrictions could make it difficult to track data if a student switches careers or course of study — challenges that could also pose an administrative burden for college officials who are tracking the data, Miller-Adams said.
“It requires a lot of thought and planning and understanding where the barriers and difficulties are, and making sure that you’re working to resolve them,” Miller-Adams said. “That means involving the logistics of a lot of the parties. In our years of research, we’ve learned the simpler the program, the better.”
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