SECTION 1.   Chapter 15A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 5A the following section:

Section 5B.    Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, no tuition or mandatory curriculum fees shall be charged to any resident of the state at any community college listed in section 5.  The commonwealth, not the community colleges, shall bear the cost of providing free community colleges for residents of the state.

SECTION 2.  Chapter 15A of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2016 Official Edition, is hereby amended by deleting section 9B and substituting the following sections:

Section 9B(i) Notwithstanding the provisions of any general or special law to the contrary, no tuition or mandatory curriculum fees shall be charged to any resident of the state at any community college listed in section 5 nor at any state university or the university of Massachusetts.  The commonwealth, not the community colleges, state universities, or the university of Massachusetts, shall bear the cost of providing free public higher education for residents of the state.

9B(ii) There shall be a program, subject to appropriation, of needs-based financial assistance, administered by the board of higher education, to provide full or partial scholarships for non-residents of the commonwealth enrolled in and pursuing a part-time or full-time program of higher education in any of the institutions of higher education in the commonwealth. The council shall establish guidelines to govern said program. Said guidelines shall be filed with the house and senate committees on ways and means and the joint committee on higher education within thirty days of the approval by the council of said guidelines.