Lewiston Sun Journal, June 9, 2002
Interesting plan for community colleges
Maine likes to lead the nation, but when it comes to community colleges, we are lagging terribly far behind.
Maine is one of only five states without a community college system. We have technical colleges and the university system. We don't have an option for students to pursue a two-year associate of arts, or liberal arts, degree in public schools.
We should, and a group of educators are already successfully pitching the idea to gubernatorial candidates.
Maine's technical colleges, which offer some liberal arts courses, would like to expand those offerings and become fully-recognized community colleges. That would mean a change of name for schools like Central Maine Technical College, and an increase in the number of slots available for incoming students.
College-level administrators believe Maine needs a low-cost entry point to post-secondary education, and community colleges offer that.
Many folks head off to college without any idea what their major might be. If they aren't interested in pursuing an occupational trade, they never consider going to a technical school. If they cannot afford, or aren't interested in a four-year program, they may decide to forego college altogether.
A community college, with a varied liberal arts curriculum, offers this kind of student the option to go to college and pay an affordable tuition to study the liberal arts, without taking away from the state’s technical school system.
What John Fitzsimmons, president of Maine's Technical College System, has in mind is an increase from the current 6,400 student base at technical schools to 11,000 students in community colleges.
Proud of the fact that Maine's technical colleges haven't seen a tuition increase in the past five years, Fitzsimmons said that will continue as the schools evolve into community colleges. He’d even like to see the tuition come down.
There will be a cost to Maine taxpayers to make this change, including an increase in annual subsidy to the Maine Technical College System and a capital improvements bond for facility upgrades in 2003.
But the benefits will most certainly outweigh the costs.
The Maine Technical College System measures its effectiveness by the number of students who are gainfully employed upon graduation, and the number who decide to continue their education at a four-year school and perform equal to or better than students entering the university system as freshmen. Both measures are high. That means the technical college system works.
Students are learning job skills, becoming employed, pursuing higher degrees and paying the lowest tuition costs in the state. If the system works, we ought to consider expanding it.
There's no hurry to make this commitment, though. Right now it's just an idea, but it's an idea that will be presented to the Legislature in January so we ought to start thinking about it now.
A surprising 68 percent of Maine employers say they are having trouble finding skilled workers, which stymies the economy. Low-cost quality community college education could fix that.