UMS plan seeks to aid low-income students

BANGOR – Maine’s lowest-income high school graduates will have an easier time affording college if a $16.5 million supplemental budget request proposed by University of Maine System Chancellor Joseph Westphal on Monday gets approval by state lawmakers.

The plan, which was presented to the UMS board of trustees Monday, includes an $11 million scholarship program for full-time students who maintain at least a 2.5 grade-point average and accept part-time work-study employment on campus.

While approved by the trustees during the meeting in Bangor, the supplemental budget request will now be submitted to Gov. John Baldacci and then have to be voted on by the Legislature during its next regular session that begins in January.

Westphal told trustees that his proposal could help as many as 4,000 students during a four-year period, and would cover the gap between the cost of a full-time university education in Maine and the amount a student receives in education waivers, grants, work-study funds and other scholarships.

Record student enrollments, low investment returns from scholarship endowments, and an anticipated increase in the number of students transferring to Maine’s public universities from community colleges all “create an urgent need for supplemental funding” for UMS, Westphal said.

The budget request for the fiscal year beginning July 1, 2004, also includes:

. $2 million in state funds to leverage several millions of dollars in federal research and development funds.

. $1.1 million to expand the nursing degree opportunities offered within the university system.

. $800,000 to continue funding the Public Education Partnership, a pilot program between the state and the university system designed to help Maine’s schools meet the current and anticipated teacher shortage.

. $665,000 in need-based grants to students for purchasing laptop computers.

. $500,000 for University of Maine’s Fogler Library, the state’s designated research library.

. $300,000 for campus safety improvements.

During Monday’s trustees meeting, UMS officials cited national statistics showing that the more residents in a state with a bachelor’s degree, the lower the poverty rate.

By offering less expensive opportunities to get degrees, UMS officials hope to reduce the percentage of Mainers living in poverty. Currently more than 154,000 of the state’s roughly 1.3 million residents are living in poverty.

“It is vital to the state’s economic growth that finances not prohibit Maine students from obtaining a post-secondary education,” Westphal said.

To be eligible for the proposed scholarship program, a student must be a Maine resident with a reported family income at or below 150 percent of the established poverty level. In addition, he or she must have graduated from high school with at least a 2.5 grade-point average.

Westphal said his budget request is intended to strengthen the system’s role in addressing the state’s educational and economic condition.

“The scholarship plan and the other items we are asking the governor to consider are investments in Maine’s future,” he said.

The plan also covers community college graduates who want to transfer into UMS after completing their associate’s degree, as long as they graduated with at least a 2.5 grade-point average.

Dana Humphrey, a civil engineering professor at the University of Maine and the faculty representative to the board, said the proposed Low-Income Student Scholarship Program “is greatly appreciated” but suggested avoiding using the term “low income” in the name. He offered several alternatives, including Hope Scholarship Program or All-Maine Scholarship Program.

Humphrey also encouraged trustees to allow some flexibility with the required grade-point average. UMS officials said such details will be considered later.