RIGHT TO COLLEGE

Maine has had 35 studies over two decades to find out what keeps students from going to college. Any student who had been given that many chances to solve a problem and failed would be looking at summer school.

Maine, unfortunately, suffers a worse purgatory: lower-wage jobs, lowered ability to change careers, exodus of its college-educated children looking for employment elsewhere. Rather than performing yet another study on this problem, a group called the Maine Compact for Higher Education reviewed all the data of the past and last week presented a blue print for offering college education to an additional 40,000 Mainers over the next 15 years.

The number 40,000 was chosen because it would boost Maine’s college-graduation rate to the New England average. To do that, the compact – 31 people from education, the state and business – says Maine will need a major scholarship program, an introduction to college for high school students, a program to help adults prepare for and succeed in college, an employer initiative and a tax credit to encourage continuing education and a marketing campaign. The cost is $43.7 million, nearly $35 million of which would go to scholarships annually.

This seems like a massive amount of money, but it is, in fact, not nearly enough because this plan cannot succeed on its own. It should, foremost, be connected to Maine’s research and development investments, which are paying off many times over. It should be connected to the state’s growing appreciation of the creative economy, pointing it to valuable industries that fit well into Maine’s landscape. It should be connected to spending in the state’s Department of Economic and Community Development, where there should be no doubt that a knowledge-based economy is the only one that will succeed broadly.

In the context of these other initiatives and trends, raising college-graduation levels is an inevitable conclusion, and just as the public spends substantially on K-12 education, it will spend on higher education, with the alternative of not spending producing a far higher cost.

The reasons for attending college are not only financial, of course. The obligations of a civil society demand that its members have a fair understanding of the cultural, philosophical and artistic traditions upon which it is founded. The one new idea the compact presents is that a college degree is a right and a responsibility of all Maine people. That is debatable, but the point certainly changes the view of college as merely a beneficial option after high school.

Compact leaders see their plan taking shape over several years. That is appropriate. If the proposal is as substantial as it seems it certainly will require modification along the way as Maine learns more about the barriers students face when trying to earn a college degree. But given all the other changes occurring in Maine now, including the University of Maine System’s strategic plan to improve the quality of its universities, this is an excellent time to present a means for getting more students to attend these schools and commit the state to preparing for a future that will arrive whether or not it is ready.