January 5, 2009     Reported By: Keith McKeen

As the economy weakens, an increasing number of of high school students and their parents are scaling back plans to attend expensive four year colleges. The beneficiary, in Maine at least, is the state's Community College System which is seeing double-digit growth in the the number of applicants seeking admission for the spring semester.  But though student growth has increased dramatically over the past five years, the system is facing a multi-million dollar curtailment in state funding. 

Ruth Magisha is a student majoring in liberal studies with a concentration in social sciences at Southern Maine Community College in South Portland.  A native of Rwanda, Magisha is one of the thousands of students who've enrolled at one of Maine's seven community colleges, for both the low tuition rate and small college environment.  "Teachers here are very close to students.  They take their time with the students and all the staff here is very nice to you.  It's also very cheap here, and we get a lot of grants, you know," she says.

Gregory Caron of Brewer is studying communications with a specialty in designing web pages. "Why did I choose it in a community college?  It would have to be the price," he says.  "I'm getting the same education as someone going to a four-year institute, I'm paying at least half, you know?  I can't afford to go to a four-year institute this time."

Maine's community colleges report that applications are up 20 percent across the system with the largest increase, 38 percent, at Kennebec Valley Community College in Fairfield.  System officials attribute the increased demand to the the economic downturn.  "Traditionally at our community colleges, we kind of cyclical," says system President John Fitzsimmons. "So as the economy worsens, more people apply at the community colleges and this has followed patterns over the last fifteen years, so we're experiencing this January a 20 percent increase in applications, and that means next fall it will be astronomical the number of people coming our way."

Another plus for the system is recent research that shows the potential opportunities Maine will soon have for graduates with two year degrees. The economic downturn may have slowed the growth in those kinds of jobs for the time being, but the community college system currently boasts a 96 percent job placement rate in the state.  It might seem logical to conclude that an increase in student enrollment means more money to line campus coffers.  Fitzsimmons says that's not the case.  "When you look at the community colleges with more students applying then they can enroll, you assume that we won't have any financial issues."

In fact, Fitzsimmons says, the seven colleges are currently dealing with a curtailment in state funding of nearly $3 million in the fiscal year ending in June.  "Student tuition represents only 25 percent of our operating budget, so the state is the major player in supporting students going through our colleges."                                                                                                          

A recent "ability to pay" study, says Fitzsimmons, found that if the current tuition rate of $2,400 hundred per year was increased by more than $2 per credit hour, it would cost the system more than 20 percent of its enrollment.  And yet more state funding cuts are likely.  "We'll find out in just a few days what the final budget will be, but if we have cuts coming it may be first time in 20 years that we will decrease enrollment," Fitzsimmons says.