ALFOND’S COLLEGE CHALLENGE

The message behind a new scholarship program funded by the late Harold Alfond may be as important as the money itself. In a state where too few students go on to college, getting parents to think about – and better yet to plan for – their children’s higher education is a big boost.

The Harold Alfond College Challenge, which begins Jan. 1, will provide a $500 scholarship to be invested in a NextGen College Investing Plan account for each newborn at MaineGeneral Health facilities in Waterville and Augusta. The next year, the program will expand statewide. There were 14,152 births in Maine in 2006.

According to the Finance Authority of Maine, it is estimated that in 18 years at 8 percent interest this $500 grant, without any additional contribution, would grow to $2,000. With a contribution of $50 per month, the account could grow to $25,000 in 18 years. To accept Mr. Alfond’s “challenge,” families and employers should seek ways to make such further contributions a reality.

Beyond the money, “it also gives parents the understanding and encouragement needed to embark on the rigorous college savings process,” Richard Pattenaude, chancellor of the University of Maine System, said. “It opens the doors of possibility for parents who might have never thought they could help their children pay for college.”

Helping families overcome this hurdle, by providing information about college planning in addition to the scholarship money, should help ensure more Maine students go to college.

A report, released this summer by the Mitchell Institute, found that plenty of Maine students and their families had college aspirations. The problem was they weren’t planning for it.

According to the report, 85 percent of high school juniors and seniors said they expected to go on to a four- or two-year college right after high school. In 2006, however, only 57 percent of that year’s high school graduates enrolled in college, the lowest in more than five years and below the New England and national averages.

The report cited many reasons for the college gap, but finances remain a top concern. “Nothing will prevent me from going to college, except money,” a high school student told the institute researchers. Parents, too, are concerned with paying for college, with about a third saying finances will determine if their children attend college and two-thirds saying finances will determine which school their child attends.

Compounding the problem, Maine families aren’t getting the financial aid information they need, according to the Mitchell Institute, with far fewer students completing financial aid applications than are eligible to receive assistance.

This is a costly shortcoming. Someone with a bachelor of arts degree earns on average 62 percent more than someone with a high school diploma, worth about $1 million more over a lifetime of work. Also consider, in 1950, 60 percent of jobs in Maine were blue collar; now only 25 percent are. Two-thirds of the state’s fastest growing economic sectors require education beyond high school.

Mr. Alfond’s generosity, in money and in philosophy, will help a new generation be better prepared for these and other challenges.