Governor Mills recently signed her updated supplemental budget. It is designed to prioritize affordability in Maine’s core investments like school funding and healthcare. And in her recent State of the State speech, she got people excited for the return of the free college program, originally  designed to be free for  students in eligible graduating classes. The previous free college program’s term was meant to end with graduating seniors of the class of 2025, but rumors circulated of its permanent return and continuation through the graduating class of 2026, and hopefully beyond. On Thursday April 9^th, the Maine legislature voted to make the Maine Free College Scholarship permanent for the class of 2026 and beyond. 

There will be a few key changes to the program, such as; 

• Qualifying students must be from Maine, with a primary residence in Maine for at least 12 consecutive months immediately prior to the date of admission and they must continue to live in Maine while enrolled. 
• Qualifying students would have 150% of time, rather than the current 200% of time, to access the scholarship 
• The scholarship will only cover 100% of tuition, rather than both tuition and fees. Full-time tuition is $2,880 per year, and fees are $1,276 per year, so for some, whose Pell and Maine State Grant do not cover the full cost of tuition and fees, students will have to pay the fees that are not covered by those other grants.

Additionally, the scholarship window has been shortened to 3 years to complete an associate degree as opposed to the discontinued 4 years. David Daigler, president of the Maine Community College System wrote in a letter to his employees, 

“While we weren’t looking to change the scholarship, I think these changes are a viable and acceptable way to lower the state’s investment and significantly increase the likelihood of legislative passage. Governor Mills’ strong and vocal support will also play a key role, and she clearly is committed to this initiative.”   

Daigler shares the same hope for the program as much as the many students and families that plan to utilize the head start in education for the next generation. It seems that Daigler is also content in the achievement of the return of the revamped Free College and plans to work with Governor Mills.