Morning Sentinel , June 3, 2005
Enrollment at community colleges up
By COLIN HICKEY
Staff Writer
Copyright © 2005 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. Reprinted with permission.
Two years ago Maine converted from a technical to a community college system with the hope of attracting a greater share of students directly from high school.
That mission has been accomplished.
Enrollment is up 41 percent in that category, Alice Kirkpatrick of the Maine Community College System said.
But that 41 percent increase is seen as only the start. The expectation is that an even greater percentage of students graduating from high schools across the region and the state in the next two weeks will choose the community college path to a higher education, Kirkpatrick said.
"Maine currently has about 55 percent of high school students going on to college," Kirkpatrick said. "The governor set a goal of reaching 70 percent. We think a good percentage of those additional students are traditional community college students."
National statistics on community college enrollment support that belief.
"We are at about 10 percent of high school graduates entering Maine's community college directly," Kirkpatrick said, "and nationally it is 17 percent. We were at about 7 percent until we made the change to community colleges."
The surge in students straight from high school is even more pronounced at Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield.
Dean of Student Affairs Kathy Moore said the college has seen enrollment in that category rise 65 percent since the change to a community college system.
Moore said the emphasis the state has put on obtaining a higher education, as well as initiatives such as the Early College for Maine program, a program that encourages students to have college ambitions, have helped spur the trend.
"I think that there are a lot of different initiatives to help high school students move on in their education," Moore said. "I think the high schools have responded (to the mission)."
Moore said Early College for Maine, although still in its pilot-program phase, can be found at Skowhegan Area High School, Lawrence High School in Fairfield and the Capital Area Technical Center in Augusta.
"The program is going after students who have the potential to succeed in college but who might be intimidated by it," Kirkpatrick said. "We make sure students are taking the right academic courses for college and that they are aware of scholarship opportunities."
The success of Maine's switch to a community college system already has gained attention well beyond the state. This spring the national publication "Education Week" published a feature story on the phenomenon.
Kirkpatrick said other efforts are under way to better accommodate the needs of any Maine resident contemplating a community college education, including the possibility of building more residential housing.
Currently, five of the seven colleges in the system offer student housing, although only 9 percent of the approximately 10,200 students in the system live in such quarters -- Kennebec Valley Community College is one of two campuses with no dormitories.
Kirkpatrick said creating more student housing is especially critical in Maine because of the great geographical size of the state. For some Mainers, the nearest community college can be a considerable distance from their home, she said, and thus serve as a barrier to attending.
Increasing the number of residential halls also is way to give more students the opportunity to experience what Kirkpatrick termed "the whole college experience" of campus life and extracurricular activities.
That might be particularly appealing to students coming straight from high school, she said.
Colin Hickey -- 861-9205
chickey@centralmaine.com