Executive Summary
Fifty years ago, about one-half of the jobs in Maine were in the manufacturing sector. A Maine resident with a high school diploma could earn a decent living at a paper mill or a textile factory. Good on-the-job training was often available. No college was needed. But those jobs have all but disappeared.
The new jobs of the Knowledge Economy--office jobs, education and health care jobs and technology jobs--require problem-solving and interpersonal skills. What manufacturing jobs remain will likely be in "high-performance" workplaces where the latest technology takes care of rote, manual tasks, and frontline workers are responsible for making critical decisions on the shop floor. These jobs increasingly require college degrees.
Yet six of every 10 Maine ninth-graders will veer off the road to college--and off the road to the American Dream. With every child who fails to earn a college degree, another bit of Maine's economic future is lost. And that's not all. People who graduate from college not only get better jobs, earn more money and pay more taxes than those with high school diplomas. They're also more likely to vote, more likely to do volunteer work, more likely to serve on civic boards, and better prepared to understand the increasingly complex fiscal, educational and environmental questions facing local communities from Jackman to York.
For a half century, America has viewed completing high school as the minimum education accomplishment. Today, Maine faces the opportunity--and the imperative--to raise this bar. Maine's future requires that we make college attainment as ubiquitous as high school attainment is today. The Compact's action plan includes five strategies to begin moving Maine toward that goal:
1. Create Maine's Promise Scholarship Program to ensure that no Maine student is denied a college education for financial reasons.
The Maine's Promise Scholarship Program will eliminate all unmet need and all student loans for students from low-income households who go to college in Maine. Under this initiative, eligible students will still receive any available form of public and private merit-based and need-based financial aid (including tuition waivers, grants, scholarships and Federal Work-Study). The Maine's Promise Scholarship Program will fully cover any educational costs that remain after accounting for these other sources of student aid. And the scholarship program will be available to fill this "gap" for four consecutive years as long as students continue to meet the eligibility requirements.
2. Create the Maine Early College Initiative to encourage students to continue their education beyond high school.
The Maine Early College Initiative will enable every Maine high school to develop a program offering students a spectrum of early college experiences. These early college experiences may range from Advanced Placement (AP) classes to single courses at a local community college or university to opportunities to graduate from high school with significant college credit--in some cases, a full year of credit or even an associate degree.
3. Introduce the Maine College Transition Initiative to help adults earn degrees.
The Maine College Transition Initiative will establish high-quality, cost-effective and accessible pathways to postsecondary education for adults. The initiative is designed to ensure that adults who are committed to earning a college degree, but have not completed high school or are academically underprepared for college work, get the support they need to earn high school diplomas and succeed in college. The Maine College Transition Initiative will help adults who are studying to earn high school diplomas to transition to college. It will provide preparatory support to adults who have a high school diploma but are not academically prepared to take college courses. And it will provide counseling, mentoring and support services to enable these adults to successfully transition to college and earn degrees.
4. Establish the College for ME Employer Initiative to help employers support the education of their workforce.
The College for ME Employer Initiative will provide Maine's public and private employers with technical assistance, training and statewide recognition for forward-looking workforce education policies. The Compact will also advocate a simple state tax credit that reimburses employers for 50% of what they pay to help employees pursue college degree programs. The College for ME Employer Initiative will provide Maine employers with information, training and technical assistance delivered regionally and on site. This technical assistance could include help conducting audits of existing practices, setting five-year goals, increasing employee participation in tuition assistance programs and connecting increased educational attainment to workplace advancement.
5. Launch a comprehensive College for ME Campaign to change public perceptions of higher education and behaviors toward going to college.
The College for ME Campaign will use various media and partnerships to raise awareness of college opportunities, to change prevailing attitudes about the value of college education and ultimately to increase the number of Maine people earning college degrees. College for ME messages will reach across Maine through television, radio, newspaper and the Internet. College for ME will be visible in schools, communities and businesses throughout the state. In time, College for ME will create a shared vision of college as the Right and Responsibility of all Maine residents.
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