UMS, tech college chiefs seek more aid

AUGUSTA – The heads of the state university and technical college systems had their annual say before the Legislature on Thursday, using the opportunity to appeal for stable tuition and more student aid.

To illustrate the impact of financial aid, Chancellor Terry MacTaggart of the University of Maine System referred to a Milo woman who was a single mother on welfare when she enrolled at UMaine.

“Today, she is Dr. Kim Cook, a professor herself at the University of Southern Maine and an expert in criminology,” MacTaggart said. “No one, including Kim, knows where she would be today” if it weren’t for financial assistance she received, said MacTaggart.

He praised lawmakers for past commitments to research and development, which he said are already paying off. Of more than $90 million in research and development activity in the university system this year, $80 million is from federal and nonstate sources, he said.

MacTaggart also said legislative allocations have helped the university system to keep tuition increases below the rate of inflation for the last four years.

“Let’s do it again,” MacTaggart told the joint House-Senate gathering. “It works.”

The address by President John Fitzsimmons of the Technical College System was interrupted by a fire alarm that forced lawmakers to file out of the House chamber for a few minutes. It turned out to be a false alarm.

Fitzsimmons said 61 percent of Maine’s employers can’t find the skilled workers they need, and one in five must recruit workers in other states and countries. And the demand for highly skilled workers with at least an associate’s degree will continue to grow, he said.

Fitzsimmons said Maine must commit to raising the skills and education of its work force if it hopes to move above its No. 37 national ranking in per capita income.

To do that, he asked for legislative help in keeping tuitions frozen until they are in line with the national average, and to increase enrollment from the current 5,700 students to 10,000 students per year.

A study of the 455,000 Maine adults who do not have college degrees revealed that 20 percent have a strong interest in earning them, Fitzsimmons said in his prepared remarks.

They listed financial aid, low costs and tuition assistance from employers as some of the factors that would help them the most to get to college.

The survey shows that the seven-college system is headed in the right direction by freezing tuition, tying its programs to the economy, adding off-campus centers and online courses and providing extra support for students who have been out of school for a long time, he said.

“But this survey also underscores the magnitude of the challenge ahead of us. There are literally tens of thousands of Mainers who want to go to college, and see it as their avenue to a better job, but lack the financial resources,” Fitzsimmons said.

Budget increases initially requested by the technical colleges, 3.8 percent and 3.5 percent for the next two years, would have enabled the system to continue a tuition freeze that has already been in effect for two years, according to technical college system spokeswoman Alice Kirkpatrick.

Gov. Angus King pared down the request in his budget, which seeks increases of 2.5 percent each year for state-supported higher education. Increases of that size “would make it very challenging” to continue the tuition freeze, Kirkpatrick said. Legislation has been submitted to increase the appropriation.

The University of Maine System had requested 9 percent more next year, followed by 10 percent. It has described King’s proposed budget increases for the next two years as insufficient.

In his speech, Fitzsimmons listed some of the system’s accomplishments, including increasing its enrollment last fall by 4 percent, adding two off-campus centers, and improving access to high-demand programs. He said the colleges have a 95 percent placement rate.