Maine scholarships

John Fitzsimmons, president of the Maine Technical College System, is as amiable a person as you are likely to find in a state leadership role. But he was scathing – or as scathing as anyone looking for funding can be – when addressing the Legislature last week over the inability of this state to help itself by helping its residents into college.

“By almost all measures of college attainment and participation, Maine is at or below the national average,” he said in his annual address. “And we are significantly behind our New England neighbors. Some say being at the national average is OK. But it isn’t. It is not good enough in a competitive world economy where the premium for success is skilled workers. It is not good enough for a state that has always been renowned for its work ethic. And it is not good enough if you are one of those who are not prospering in this new economy.

“And while we debate this issue in Maine, state after state is moving ahead … making bold moves to increase college participation so their citizens have the competitive edge for the high-paying jobs. States like North Carolina, Oregon, New Jersey and our neighbor Massachusetts. Maine will not move past 37th in the nation in income, unless and until we fully commit to raising the skills and education levels of our work force.”

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In one of the many downward spirals Maine finds itself unable to escape, the largest barrier to higher education is cost compared with incomes. Income, according to many studies, is tied to a person’s level of education. So, the lower Maine drops in income vs. the rest of the nation, the more it needs higher education to pull itself up but the less residents can afford it.

The way out of this is through scholarships or generous loans. For several years, under the constant prodding of Rep. Tina Baker of Bangor and the University of Maine Foundation, lawmakers have tried to develop what has worked well for some of the states mentioned by President Fitzsimmons. Matching scholarships and funding for teaching positions – $1 of public money for every $1 of private money to build an endowment – are long-term investments in the citizens of state. They bring together public institutions, nonprofit foundations, private businesses and philanthropists to raise the level of education in a state, creating the opportunity for home-grown businesses, attracting new ones from out of state and allowing residents to prepare for evolving careers rather than dead-end jobs. The civic rewards of an educated and engaged citizenry are incalculable; the difference between Maine’s average income and the national average is about $4,500 a year.

The UMaine Foundation was back before the Legislature this year to ask again that it support matching incentives for scholarships and endowed university chairs with one-time funding of $14 million. (Two years ago, lawmakers approved of the idea in concept but contributed a tiny $100,000 to the fund.) This year, the proposal is joined if not swamped by an even more ambitious plan that creates the Maine Education Endowment Fund and is sponsored by House Speaker Michael Saxl of Portland, Senate President Michael Michaud and President Pro Tem Richard Bennett, House Minority Leader Joseph Bruno and longtime education advocate Sen. Mary Cathcart of Orono.

The bill, LD 1043, intends to use excess General Fund revenue up to $15 million a year and unappropriated surplus to build up a $125 million endowment and greatly increase the number of Maine people who can afford college. The proposal would split the money as follows: After receiving federal help and grants, qualified Maine students going to Maine institutions would be eligible for a loan of up to $2,300 a year (the cost of going to technical college). The loan can be forgiven if a student participates in an approved Maine internship program. The idea is to encourage students to attend Maine schools and meet employers in the state so that they will have the opportunity to remain here. The rest of the money would go to qualified nonprofits like the UMaine Foundation or the George Mitchell Scholarship Fund, to be matched with private funding, as with the earlier proposal.

The proposed endowment fund is still in its early stages, and it is encouraging to see such enthusiasm for scholarships but unnerving to read a bill that creates unneeded bureaucracy, new hoops for students to jump through and funding for endowment-strong private colleges in Maine. Without dampening the enthusiasm, supporters of this major bill should look to combine it with the bill by Rep. Baker, whose concept for funding has been unanimously supported by the Education Committee. Keep the scale and funding sources of the new bill, make all the money matching scholarship or chair endowments, give public schools priority over the privates. In separate legislation, expand Maine’s current loan-forgiveness programs to make the internships attractive to students studying the sciences and engineering and computers.

With the state’s $250 million shortfall and more bad news expected about revenues, there may not be much at the end of the fiscal year for the scholarship. But lawmakers are right to focus on this issue and make it far more of a priority. Maine, as President Fitzsimmons observed, will continue to fall behind until it starts seriously scholarship proposals like these.