For Framingham and MetroWest employers with 100 or fewer Massachusetts employees: up to 100% of AI training tuition reimbursed, capped at $3,000 per employee and $15,000 per year. You pay first and are reimbursed if approved.
Most people know Framingham for its corporate headquarters. National retail and consumer brands run their main offices off Route 9, and life sciences companies operate large sites nearby. An employer with thousands of people is far over the Express limit. The companies around them are not: accounting and law firms, staffing and marketing agencies, lab service vendors, and the HVAC, plumbing, electrical and remodeling companies that keep MetroWest homes and offices working.
The limit is 100 or fewer Massachusetts W-2 employees, plus a physical location in the state. Meet it and Massachusetts reimburses up to 100% of a listed course, within caps of $3,000 per employee per course and $15,000 per company per calendar year. The catch is timing. You pay for the course first, and reimbursement follows only if Commonwealth Corporation approved your application.
Small firms here compete for staff with corporate campuses. Practical training on paid time is a benefit a 30 person company can match, and the state can cover the tuition.
Read the full Massachusetts program rules before you pick dates. The application has to be filed at least 21 days before the course starts, the course has to start within 6 months of the application, and you need three documents in hand. A company just off the Mass Pike files the same online application as one in Boston or Springfield.
Framingham's home services and trades companies should start with AI for Field Service and Trades Businesses. The format is 2 hours a week for 5 weeks, with room for up to 8 trainees. Enroll the dispatcher, the service manager, the estimator and a W-2 lead technician, the people whose day is scheduling, quoting and customer follow-up.
AI for Professional Practices is the match for the law, accounting, architecture and consulting offices that serve MetroWest companies and households. Same format, same class size.
If your bottleneck is the back office, choose AI for Finance, Accounting and Payroll Teams. It fits a controller and two or three staff at a supplier, a distributor or a growing service company, the group that carries month-end close and payroll.
Each course is live, instructor-led and 10 instructional hours at $3,000 per trainee. An employee cannot repeat the same or similar funded training within five years, so choose the course that matches each person's actual job.
For Express, yes. The cap is $15,000 per company per calendar year, which is five seats at $3,000 each. For a bigger plan there is the General Program: grants from $10,000 to $200,000 with a 1-to-1 match, and wages paid to trainees during training hours count toward that match. Applications are rolling and decisions generally come within 60 days. Since April 1, 2026, an employer can use the Express and General programs at the same time.
No. You file the Express application online with Commonwealth Corporation, not with the City of Framingham and not with a regional office. The MassHire Metro South/West Workforce Board is the regional workforce board for MetroWest. Talk to them about other hiring and training programs, since they are a free resource, but they do not run this grant. Help with the state application is free, because training providers are not allowed to charge for it.
Only the W-2 employees. Trainees must be on your W-2 payroll, full or part time, and work in Massachusetts. 1099 contractors, temp workers and owners cannot be counted as trainees. Part-time office staff on W-2 payroll can be. Remember that employees must be paid their regular wages during training hours, and those wages are not reimbursed.