Many Mainers without college degree want one

About a third of working-age Mainers without college degrees have an interest in pursuing higher education, according to a survey commissioned by the Maine Technical College System. Respondents said money was the main obstacle to going to college, followed by the need to raise a family.

Strategic Marketing Services of Portland conducted a statewide telephone survey of 753 Maine residents ages 18 to 55 who do not hold college degrees.

The survey found that 38 percent of respondents were either “somewhat” or “very much” interested in pursuing a college degree; 15 percent said that “maybe” they were interested in a college degree; and 47 percent had no interest in getting a college degree.

Given the fact that roughly 455,000 state residents in the age bracket do not have a college degree, the survey reveals that 174,000 of them are interested in getting one, Alice Kirkpatrick, spokeswoman for the technical colleges, said Monday, the day the survey was released. “That’s an awful lot of people,” she said.

She said she was not surprised that nearly half of the respondents showed no interest in a college degree. “There are a lot of people who are not the traditional college age,” Kirkpatrick noted.

In an in-depth survey of the 400 people who had some level of interest in higher education, nearly 60 percent of respondents ages 18 to 25 said that they were “very interested” in pursuing a degree, vs. just 19 percent of those ages 41 to 55.

When asked the principal reasons that a person had not pursued a college degree, the No. 1 answer, at 29.5 percent, was “money,” followed by “raising a family” at 17.3 percent. Just over 12 percent said they wanted to take time off from schooling before going to college.

The results come at a time when getting more Mainers into higher education and making college more affordable have become priorities among state lawmakers as a means to lift individual incomes and to improve the state’s economy.

Last week, Michael Saxl, D-Portland, speaker of the House of Representatives, proposed legislation that would create a scholarship endowment that he hopes would provide $2,300 a year to every eligible Maine resident pursuing a college degree in Maine, The amount is the equivalent of tuition at a technical college.

When asked to list the top benefits of pursuing a degree, the No. 1 response, cited by 60 percent of those surveyed, was “higher income – better pay,” followed by “better jobs – being able to move up through the ranks,” cited by 41.5 percent.

The technical college system commissioned the study to make sure it was headed in the right direction, especially in its efforts to freeze tuition, Kirkpatrick said. Two other reasons for the survey were the growing interest in getting more people into college, plus the lack of information on working adults.

The survey, which was conducted Jan. 5-15, has a confidence level of 95 percent and a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percentage points.