A multiple-choice question: If one considers higher education as divided into four estates, which of the following educates the most Maine students currently in postsecondary training and education? (choose one): 1. the University of Maine System, 2. the Technical College System, 3. Maine Maritime Academy, or 4. the private sector. The answer is at the end of this commentary.

This leads us to recent public positions taken by University of Maine System Chancellor Joseph Westphal and former Chancellor Terrence MacTaggart on what should be done about Maine higher education. One focused on consolidation, the other on the questions to be answered. Both focused all but exclusively on the three public-sector estates of higher education which collectively serve fewer than half the current Maine students: the UMaine System, the Technical College System and Maine Maritime Academy. In short, the chancellors are trying to rationalize higher education by only addressing half the solutions available.

True, public higher education receives a lot of attention because it has a large claim on state tax revenues and bonding ability. But to put on public blinders is just like trying to address economic development solely by looking at funding the Department of Economic Development and ignoring private business.

The challenge to what the chancellors say is not that they think too big but rather that they are not thinking big enough. Given the state’s tight finances, it is a good time for public policy-makers to seriously consider Maine’s higher education’s fourth estate: the private sector.

Private higher education does not fit comfortably into the three estates of public higher education. One needs to change one’s mind-set and think more along the lines of continuums from liberal arts to professional education, from entry-level training to doctoral level scholarship, from nonprofit to for-profit to corporate education. In short, Maine’s private, postsecondary education sector simply does not fit the public-sector box.

Most often overlooked are the specialty programs of such outstanding private institutions as the Monteux conductor’s school, the Salt Institute and Valcom. Other private entities whose primary mission is not education such as Outward Bound, Wooden Boat, Irving, Madison Paper, The Jackson Laboratory, MBNA and Fraser Paper offer extraordinary training programs. There are trucking, beautician, barber, Bible and computer training schools. The list goes on and on. Hundreds of other just such private education initiatives arguably spend more each year and educate more Maine citizens than, say, Maine’s Technical Community College System.

To be sure, the private fourth estate also responds to traditional academic needs. There are undergraduate liberal arts institutions such as Bowdoin, Bates and Colby colleges, institutions with a special focus such as the College of the Atlantic and Unity College, doctoral institutions such as the University of New England and Bangor Theological Seminary and professionally oriented colleges ranging from associate degree-granting Andover, Mid-State and Beal colleges to master’s degrees in an array of business and health fields at Husson. While the public sector centers its attention on in-state institutions, private higher education includes out-of-state private colleges that deliver programs in Maine ranging from the University of Southern New Hampshire in Brunswick to the online University of Phoenix, from the allopathic medical school residencies at Maine Medical Center, Eastern Maine Medical Center and other health centers to Kneisel Hall in Blue Hill and its affiliation with music schools across the country. The list of private opportunities for postsecondary education for Maine students in Maine is far more extensive than at first recognized.

There is also the roughly one-half of all Maine high school graduates who go on to traditional colleges, but who go to colleges and universities out of state. What is less well understood is that about 75 percent of these departing students leave to attend private, not public, institutions from religious colleges to Ivy League universities. If one just takes a moment to think of where a friend or neighbor’s child is going to college out of state, one can demonstrate to oneself that the vast majority are attending a private institution. In short, roughly half the Maine students who go on to college each year go on to a private college. Add those who go on to other forms of private postsecondary education and the impact of the fourth estate is massive. Add together in-state and out-of-state private college and university enrollment for Maine students and the outcome is comparable to the University of Maine System in numbers.

So, what can one conclude about higher education’s private fourth estate? First, close to half of all Maine students attend private institutions of higher learning. Second, those tens of thousands of students cost state government almost nothing. Third, if one combines the state budget and state bond issues for higher education, 99 percent goes to the public institutions, while 1 percent goes to private colleges which educate 50 percent of the students. Maine must not ignore this cost-effective contribution by higher education’s fourth estate.

We have wonderful public education in Maine that certainly deserves generous support. Yet, as we enter a period of state austerity, it is critical that the chancellor, the Legislature and other policy-makers take a new and broader look at higher education. They should ponder why it is that, according to the New England Board of Higher Education, the state of Maine appropriates $7.43 for higher education per $1,000 of Maine personal income in 2002 compared to $4.41 in Vermont, and $2.64 in New Hampshire, a difference that could translate into hundreds of millions of state tax dollars. As Maine strives to increase the educational attainment of its residents, success demands a recognition of the role played by the private sector, its fourth estate.

Answer: 4.

William H. Beardsley is the president of Husson College.