Maine Community College System

Morning Sentinel, September 29, 2006

Editorial: Community college growth will need support

There is much to celebrate about our state's community college system. Since the system began at the end of World War II as an outgrowth of the G.I. Bill, it has grown and transformed from a one-campus, state-administered program in Augusta helping veterans re-enter the workforce into an independent, multi-campus system that grants degrees and serves both students entering directly from high school as well as adults seeking further education.

Enrollment at the seven colleges and their affiliated centers across the state grew a phenomenal 48 percent in the last four years. During that time, the number of students enrolling in the system directly out of high school has increased 75 percent. Now, 11,153 students take classes in everything from automotive technology to liberal studies and early childhood education. And all that growth during the last four years has taken place at the same time state funding increased by only 10 percent.

The hallmark of the system has been access; our community college system is perhaps the most democratic of all higher education programs in Maine, with the lowest tuition in the state for secondary education. Yet that access is now threatened by the colleges' very success; in South Portland, more than 912 potential students were turned away this past year from that school's health care program because of lack of space. Chancellor John Fitzsimmons said this week that lengthy waiting lists are beginning to be the norm for some programs.

Clearly, the state's community colleges are filling a big need. The state soon will be called on to commit even greater resources to help them fill that need; the rate of growth over the last few years has pushed the system as hard and as far as it can go. And the two-year budget request just approved by system trustees allows for only maintaining the status quo.

Managing and paying for the growth that's required by the huge demand on the colleges will be a challenge that must be met. There are many ways to meet it -- instead of, or in addition to, capital expenditures for school expansion -- administrators should look to adapting old vocational high schools, for example, or entering into partnerships with the state university. A state advisory council composed of business leaders was formed earlier this year to help guide the next phase of growth at the community college system. We hope their report, due in a month, will envision a bold and expansive future for this essential institution.

For many in this state, entrance to a community college is the ticket out of low-paying jobs for life, and the beginning of opportunity.