PRESQUE ISLE, Maine — Amid coping with the rigorous academic structure and navigating the difficult social waters of high school, most students in Maine are not ready to combine high school and college classes at the same time.
Students at the Maine School of Science and Mathematics in Limestone have been more accepting of the idea, however, and a new initiative offered through the University of Maine at Presque Isle will give them an opportunity to earn a significant amount of college credit before they graduate.
Next fall, students attending the magnet school will be able to take advantage of the most comprehensive early-college pathway in Maine, potentially completing enough college-level coursework to earn an associate degree in liberal studies from UMPI in addition to a high school diploma.
UMPI President Linda Schott and MSSM Executive Director Luke Shorty met on the UMPI campus Friday to finalize the agreement.
The dual-degree agreement will provide MSSM students with about 50 course equivalencies worth more than 150 college credits, providing MSSM students a head start at earning an affordable bachelor’s degree.
At $15 per credit hour, the 64-credit associate degree would cost students and their families approximately less than $1,000, a 93 percent savings over the traditional cost of a similar course load for Maine residents attending UMPI, campus officials said Friday.
Schott said Friday this was the latest step in a partnership with MSSM that began three years ago, when students there first started to be able to earn college credit from UMPI for several of their high school courses.
Schott praised the agreement for expanding on that partnership by offering a generous, affordable head start on college.
“This is a great opportunity for all MSSM students, especially those who are going to be leaders in science, technology, engineering and math,” she said.
Schott added that the university was able to make the cost per credit hour so affordable to MSSM students because the classes will be taught by magnet school teachers.
“We are able to offer such a good rate because we are not bearing the cost of the instruction,” Schott said. “This is a great deal for any family with kids at MSSM who are going on to college.”
This new articulation agreement was the result of a rigorous review of MSSM’s academic portfolio, including faculty qualifications, course syllabi and texts. More than 40 MSSM courses were deemed to be equivalent in content, rigor and instructional credentials to UMPI courses and faculty qualifications, paving the way for the awarding of college credit. MSSM’s students who successfully complete multivariable calculus, for example, will receive college credit for its course equivalency at UMPI, Math 231.
Ray Rice, UMPI provost and vice president for academic and student affairs, said several MSSM teachers also are adjunct professors at UMPI. He noted it was very easy for the college to set up the program with the school by building on its already existing relationship.
Rice said more than 200 MSSM students have earned college credit from UMPI in the past three years.
Students who want to take advantage of the associate degree opportunity will receive a degree plan that specifies the courses they need to take at each institution, with equivalent courses noted, to earn an associate of arts degree at UMPI and a diploma at MSSM.
While there are many early college credit programs available in Maine, the impact and affordability of this agreement has captured the attention of state education officials.
“With the rising cost of college and the huge student debt burden our young people are facing, it is such great news that more Maine students will now have the opportunity to earn college credits while still in high school, not only saving them money but giving them a great advantage over their peers,” Tom Desjardin, acting commissioner for the Maine Department of Education, said.
“The program between the University of Maine at Presque Isle and the Maine School of Science and Mathematics is an outstanding example of the kind of innovative thinking we must have to increase student opportunity,” University of Maine System Chancellor James Page said. “This creative partnership will result in more STEM graduates for the state with less loan indebtedness for some of our most promising students.”
Shorty said it is very important to give students proper credit and recognition for their work at a collegiate level. He added the credits would transfer to any college in the University of Maine System and said surveys showed the No. 1 school attended by MSSM graduates is the University of Maine.
“This is excellent,” he said. ” I don’t know of any institution like this in the whole state that offers such an agreement. It is a great opportunity for our students, and they have really embraced college course work over the last three years.”
Officials noted this agreement comes at an important time with the current national focus on higher education reform. According to Complete College America, only 19 percent of students across the U.S. complete a four-year university degree within four years, and only 4 percent complete a two-year degree within two years. In Maine, 64 percent of college students owe money coming out of college, with an average indebtedness of nearly $30,000. That indebtedness can double if students don’t complete a degree in four years.
