The University of Maine at Augusta With Campuses in Bangor and Lewiston/Auburn and Live and Interactive Television Centers Statewide has a name problem. University of Maine System trustees meeting next week can solve it.

UMA’s problem is that its name no longer and is unlikely to ever again reflect the university’s physical presence throughout Maine or its mission. Since it acquired its ITV functions, added the Lewiston campus and had pressed upon it the University College in Bangor, UMA has taken on a statewide role that leaves its current name confusing to potential customers — students — and makes marketing difficult.

The solution, sensibly enough, is to change the name to reflect its new role. A proposal in the Legislature last year suggested calling it The Maine State University, after groups within UMA unanimously supported the change. The Legislature’s Education Committee concluded, correctly, that the decision should be left up to the system’s board of trustees. The trustees will vote on it next week in Farmington.

The Maine State University is a fine name, so good, in fact, that some less-happy people in the university system may believe that it is too good for a university that is struggling to meet its budget and find enough students. But UMA’s struggles are precisely why it should stop doing business as usual and start looking for changes that will help it be more successful. Someone should propose calling it Harvard, if the name were not already taken.

And that leads to a second point: The school makes the name and not vice-versa. Beyond adequate state funding, UMA or The Maine State University ultimately will thrive or fall based on the quality of its teaching. A name alone cannot save it. The question trustees should consider is whether UMA’s current name acts as an unintended barrier to students. The answer is that it almost certainly does if for no other reason than it misrepresents what the university offers.

When the name change was proposed in the Legislature, some lawmakers wondered whether calling an institution that offers two- and four-year degrees a university was proper. Doesn’t “university” suggest graduate-level research? As it turns out, no. Virginia State University, Delaware State University, Kentucky State University and a dozen others do not grant doctoral degrees. (On the other hand, Husson College, Thomas College, Dartmouth College, Boston College and Smith College, among others, do offer master’s or doctoral degrees.)

The Maine State University name would give the various institutions of UMA a single identity, connecting them for the first time. The name offers students something positive after so many years of uncertainty on the university’s campuses. Trustees can find several good and generous reasons to agree to welcoming the change to The Maine State University.