After launching a revolutionary free college program in the spring of 2022, Maine community colleges have seen a huge enrollment boost, with students swarming to the new program. At the same time, the University of Maine system has seen its own changes, with enrollment numbers declining.

In 2022, the “Free College Scholarship” was passed in the state of Maine, in which high school graduates (years 2020-2023) would qualify for free tuition through the Maine Community College system (MCCS); the program has since been extended an extra two years for high school graduates 2024-25. This has created an observable enrollment boost for Maine community colleges, creating new opportunities for thousands of Maine students.

According to Jason Saucier, Director of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management at SMCC, over 11,000 students have enrolled at MCCS under the new program since it was first legislated – this is well over the 8,000-student goal that was prospected by Maine community college administrators.

The program has been, objectively, a great success for MCCS and Maine students alike. Meanwhile, undergraduate enrollment for the University of Maine system (UMaine) has dropped 5% – about 1,200 students – over the same period as MCCS’s enrollment boost, contributing to a $5 million budget deficit. Last November, UMaine’s executive committee voted to use its pandemic relief fund for a system-wide halt in new hires, while laying off some of its employees. The University of Maine at Farmington alone laid off nine full-time faculty members in 2022. This is a stark contrast between two college systems over the same period of time, with one system flourishing after the installment of an affordable education program, and the other seeing a hurtful dip. While there are various factors to consider when discussing enrollment numbers – the pandemic, economic changes, tuition hikes – the numbers reveal an apparent correlation between a massive enrollment boost at Maine’s community colleges and a steep decline at UMaine, occurring directly after the implementation of free community college.

At this point, administrators and students alike wonder what Maine universities will do next. Will they develop similar programs to incentivize enrollment at their schools? Will they lower tuition rates? If the surge in community college enrollment has proven anything, it’s that thousands of students are both willing and able to pursue higher education but are deterred by hefty tuition costs. The MCCS free college program could prove to be the start of a new era for higher education.