Bangor Daily News, May 2, 2002

Tech school leader seeks $23 million

Funds needed to complete college system transition

AUGUSTA — Maine Technical College System President John Fitzsimmons has launched a campaign to get $23 million in state funds to reduce tuition by a quarter and boost enrollment by two-thirds, completing transformation of the seven former vocational institutes into a full-fledged system of community colleges.

Fitzsimmons said Wednesday that during the past two weeks he’s been touring the state, speaking with representatives of the technical colleges and with local business groups, describing the plan that he believes will bring the technical college system into a bold, new era.

With an eye toward reflecting the system’s fresh identity, Fitzsimmons also is proposing changing its name to the Maine Community College System, with each campus assuming a new title, such as Eastern Maine Community College for the Bangor institution.

“We’ve been on a steady journey for at least six or seven years and we’re within striking distance,” Fitzsimmons said during a telephone interview from his Augusta office.

“This is a very easy evolution for us and it’s very exciting for the state. By changing the name and making the investment, Maine will have what it’s been missing — a low-cost entry point that provides broad access to higher education for thousands more Maine people,” he said.

Fitzsimmons plans to recommend to the Legislature next January that the state invest $18.8 million over six years, beginning with $6.3 million in 2004, to cover the cost of increasing enrollment by 4,000 students by the end of the decade. The money would be used to hire faculty and counselors and to implement new programs in both occupational fields and liberal arts.

Depending on the state budget “and other circumstances,” Fitzsimmons said he may request an additional $4.5 million over the same six years. The extra investment would enable administrators to reduce the current $68 per credit hour tuition rate down to the national average of $52.

Hoping that a new governor “will take this up as a priority,” Fitzsimmons said he has discussed his plan with some gubernatorial candidates. U.S. Rep. John Baldacci has endorsed the entire concept, Fitzsimmons said.

Later this month Fitzsimmons said he would begin explaining to legislators “why this is the right move for Maine.”

People have been largely enthusiastic about the plan, Fitzsimmons said. “Everyone likes the name change,” he said. “It helps define our role to the public. The word technical is seen as negative. In many people’s eyes [the word] becomes too limiting.”

The president said he is optimistic that political leaders also will warm to his ideas. The Legislature passed a resolve a couple of years ago supporting an incremental growth plan that would raise the technical colleges’ enrollment from 6,400 students to 10,000 students, said Fitzsimmons. His proposal calls for nearly 11,000.

Maine is the only New England state — and one of a only a handful across the nation — without “comprehensive” community colleges, which include occupational and liberal arts programs. But by providing broad access to higher education and a skilled workforce for employers, Maine’s technical colleges already are almost identical to most community colleges, according to Fitzsimmons.

Like community colleges, the technical colleges offer two-year programs, low tuition, flexible schedules for non-traditional students, occupational and general education courses and extra academic support. A liberal arts major was added in 1999 and has attracted large numbers of students.

Not enough Mainers see the technical colleges as a stepping stone to a baccalaureate degree, Alice Kirkpatrick, MTCS director of public affairs said. But the metamorphosis into a true community college system will go a long way in convincing students that they can get the first two years of a four-year degree in a low-cost environment that offers small classes and extra academic support, she said.

“Because Maine hasn’t had a true community college system, we find that many people in Maine think ‘college’ means four-year college only. Yet in states with long-established community colleges, the two-year option is widely known and broadly utilized,” Kirkpatrick said.

Only 15 percent of Maine’s undergraduates enroll in its public two-year colleges, compared with 42 percent nationally, according to figures from the Chronicle of Higher Education that Fitzsimmons included in his presentations.

While there may be duplication between the two-year programs administered by the University of Maine System and those run by the technical college system, MTCS and UMS officials said they aren’t bothered in the least.

“We’re so underserving Maine,” Fitzsimmons said. “We need university, technical and private colleges to do everything in their power to attract and retain students in higher education. I’m welcoming everybody who’s reaching out to bring more students in.”

Meanwhile, the transferability of courses, a keystone of community colleges, is destined to become smoother within the next few years, said officials.

That’s because the technical college system is on its way towards becoming accredited by the Commission on Institutions of Higher Education of the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

Six out of the seven schools have been approved for candidacy, and York County Technical College’s approval is imminent, officials said.

Joyce Hedlund, president of Bangor’s Eastern Maine Technical College, said that while there haven’t been problems when students wanted to transfer courses to four-year colleges within the state, obtaining approval from out-of-state colleges sometimes proved troublesome.

“You want to make sure your students never hit an educational ceiling,” she said. “I’d get phone calls asking for syllabuses and course descriptions. To them, on paper, we’re a trade school. But when [CIHE] gives us accreditation, it means this is a full-fledged community college.”