Morning Sentinel, July 2, 2003
Tech colleges reborn
New names, focus for system schools
By DOUG HARLOW, Staff Writer
FAIRFIELD — State and local officials ushered in a new era of higher education in Maine on Tuesday with ceremonies marking the transition from technical colleges to the new community college system.
It is a change not just in name alone, Kennebec Valley Community College President Barbara Woodlee said.
"The key difference with a community college system is before, some students had to come here with a clear career objective," Woodlee said. "Now you can come in and build from general studies courses."
Maine joins 45 other states that have community college systems, programs which prepare students for the workplace with a two-year course of studies or for four-year degree programs at state and private colleges and universities.
"I think it's a very significant change," said House Speaker Patrick Colwell, D-Gardiner. "It expands the mission to a seamless entry point to higher education.
"The only way Maine is going to succeed in the transition from using our muscle to using our intellectual muscle is education, and the community colleges will allow us the low-cost point of entry for a quality education to get things started."
The Maine Legislature, with support from Gov. John Baldacci, set aside $1 million in the current budget for the colleges to spend on the transition to a community college system over the next two years.
The state money, along with a matching $1 million gift from the Osher Foundation of San Francisco, results in a two-year tuition freeze, the governor announced at Southern Maine Community College during ceremonies there Tuesday.
Tuition is expected to be frozen at the current level — $68 per credit hour, or about $2,040 per year for the next two years.
Colwell was co-sponsor of the legislation to make the transition from the old system, which was founded as vocational technical institutes in 1946 to retrain World War II veterans for civilian jobs.
The names of the state's seven vocational colleges were changed in 1989 to refer to them as technical colleges. The new community college moniker became official in March, but Woodlee said it took three months to enact the changes.
Colwell and the bill's lead sponsor, Sen. President Beverly Daggett, D-Augusta, said they were thrilled to see the new community college logo and the new sign on the highway before Tuesday's celebration in Fairfield.
"But what's really nice is it's a brand new day in the Maine educational system," Colwell said. "It's a day when our work force in the state gets access to the best education in this country to compete in the global economy."
Daggett said the new system will shift gears to focus on preparing students who choose to continue their education at four-year colleges. Students now will be able to enter the college before they select a course of study, she said.
Under the technical college system, students had to meet prerequisites to enter a particular program.
Daggett said the stories of success told by graduates of Kennebec Valley Technical College are "heartwarming and encouraging to hear" and can only get better with the new system.
"Stories from traditional, nontraditional, home-school students, people who lost their jobs and had reason to return to school — some with families, jobs and children — they were incredible to hear," Daggett said.
Daggett said by adding a so-called liberal education into the community college system, opportunities expand and more closely meet the needs of Maine people.
Courses will be added, particularly in the arts and sciences, Daggett said. The community college also will offer more support, advice and counseling for students who might not have been confident enough to enroll directly into the university system, she said.
"Advisors and counselors will specialize in helping bring people into the post-secondary environment," she said. "The name 'technical college' pointed toward a vocational mission, whereas the community college reflects the liberal arts aspect of the school."
Daggett said both vocational and liberal arts courses of study will continue to be offered at all of the state's community colleges.
More than 10,000 students statewide are expected to benefit from the tuition freeze.
Baldacci said that by keeping the cost of a college education affordable, the state is lowering the barriers to higher education.
The last time the college system raised tuition was in 1998. The announced freeze means six straight years without an increase.
Maine Community College System President John Fitzsimmons said the system will raise an additional $950,000 over the next five years to create an endowment fund for annual scholarships.
The fund is expected to generate about $50,000 a year for scholarships.