As Amari Pocknett plans her classes for next semester at Cape Cod Community College, her choices aren’t dependent on which ones are the most interesting to her or what required courses she needs to take.

Instead, as the state quietly reduces its need-based stipends for students like Pocknett, she is choosing classes based on where her dollars go the furthest.

She had hoped to retake a statistics course that ruined her consistent presence on the honor roll, but with a $370 rental textbook for the semester, it is “not possible this year,” Pocknett said.

Only a year after the state instituted free community college, community college leaders and students are sounding the alarm about the rollback of funding — and what it could mean for the future of the program.

While tuition and fees are

See Full Page