‘Tis the season to dispel myths about the rate at which Maine kids go to college.

A new study commissioned by the Finance Authority of Maine can be added to the growing research showing Maine high school graduates go to college and obtain degrees at rates that place the state in the middle of the nation. The conventional wisdom in recent years has held that Maine ranks near rock bottom.

Though the new research lifts Maine’s image, Greg Gollihur, FAME’s higher education specialists, says the findings should not cause complacency.

“It is imperative that Maine … increase its college-going rates [even further] if it expects to remain competitive in the knowledge-based economy,” he said.

The FAME study points out some reasons why among New England states Maine has the lowest percentage of its population holding bachelor’s degrees or higher.

One of the major reasons is that the state has one of the highest rates of students going to college in other states. And when a student goes to college out of state, he is less likely to return to his home state to work.

According to the FAME report, which was written by Samuel M. Kipp 3d, a national expert on secondary education, 44 percent of Maine’s college-going high school graduates head to colleges outside of Maine compared to the 19 percent nationwide who enroll in out-of-state institutions.

In his report, Kipp lays out the economic importance of educational attainment, pointing to a problem in Maine.

“Educational attainment dramatically increases the average annual incomes of those with baccalaureate or advanced degrees,” Kipp wrote. “College graduates are also typically employed in jobs that are more likely to provide quality health insurance, retirement programs, and other attractive fringe benefits.”

But, while the economic return for a college education in Maine is quite substantial, it is lower than the average return for the nation as a whole, he said. This income differential may shed some light on the out-migration of college graduates from Maine.

Low college-going rates are not the reason for the relatively low percentage of Maine’s population with a bachelor’s degree or better, according to Kipp.

According to figures from March 2000 released by the U.S. Census Bureau this week, 24.1 percent of Maine’s population holds a bachelor’s degree or higher. That leaves Maine ranked last in New England, and about average in the rest of the nation in the 27th slot. This year 26 percent of the nation’s population holds a bachelor’s degree or higher.

Kipp said in 1996 Maine’s recent high school graduates enrolled in college the following academic year at a rate that was “only slightly below the national average – 52.4 percent compared to 56.1 percent.

“Maine’s college-going rate is higher than 22 other states,” Kipp wrote. “Maine’s college-going rate is quite similar to the college-going rates in other nonmetropolitan, small town or rural states.”

Kipp points out some things Maine needs to tackle to increase the proportion of its population with college degrees.

Given the fact that Maine’s median family income is below the national average and the cost of attending a public university or technical college is relatively high, he wrote, “making college affordable will be crucial.”

Maine must also find ways to “retain its most highly educated residents,” he said. “It will also need to … encourage out-of-state residents who go to college in Maine to remain in the state to live and work, and to convince Maine residents who go to college in other states to return to Maine for attractive jobs and career opportunities.”