About AdvantageU
AdvantageU is a new guaranteed admission agreement offered through a partnership of the Maine Community College System (MCCS) and University of Maine System (UMS). Participating students who earn an Associate in Arts in Liberal Studies from a Maine Community College are guaranteed admission with junior standing at any Maine public University. Note: Students must maintain a 2.0 GPA; 2.5 is required for guaranteed admission to UMaine; UMF is subject to an enrollment cap.

Benefits include:

• Guaranteed admission, with junior standing, to any UMS institution
• Early advising toward the student's University major
• Advanced registration with continuing University students
• A streamlined transfer process
• No University application fee

How AdvantageU was created
AdvantageU is based on an agreement between the MCCS and UMS developed by the Maine Higher Education Partnership (MHEP), a joint UMS/MCCS committee comprised of presidents from each system. The MHEP was created by Chancellor Westphal and President Fitzsimmons in January 2003 to ensure that the two systems communicate and collaborate at a high level; to look at ways to improve efficiencies; and to strengthen transfer from two-year to four-year programs. The committee is chaired by UMA President Charles Lyons and KVCC President Barbara Woodlee. A cross-section of staff from each system has been working on the program's implementation.

About the Associate in Arts in Liberal Studies
AdvantageU covers Community College students entering the Associate in Arts in Liberal Studies. The AA in Liberal Studies was added in 1999, in partnership with UMS, and is now the largest program at Maine's Community Colleges, serving nearly 3,100 students, or 30 percent of all students. The Associate in Arts is designed to prepare students to transfer to an upper division baccalaureate program. The curriculum is built on a foundation in "general education" with considerable flexibility in selecting strands of electives to develop depth in the prerequisite knowledge required for further study at the baccalaureate level. The curriculum includes the following minimum requirements:

English/Communication	6 credit hours
Humanities	3 credit hours
Mathematics/Science	3 credit hours
Social Science	9 credit hours
Total core requirements	21 credit hours
Elective courses (General Education)	39 credit hours
Total credit hours	60
Note: The credential is limited to no more than 64 credit hours.