New agreement guarantees community college graduates admission to Maine’s public universities

Maine community college graduates will be guaranteed admission to the University of Maine System under a new transfer agreement announced Wednesday.

Maine Community College System President David Daigler said the state’s public colleges have long had hundreds of separate agreements making it possible for students to transfer to university programs after graduating from community college.

But under the new partnership, Daigler said the systems will be more proactive and reach out to eligible community college students about halfway through their associate degree, with information on how to continue their education at one of Maine’s public universities. Students will then be automatically admitted to a UMaine school once they graduate.

“And the student has a guaranteed transfer pathway from community college to the university, no application necessary. All they have to do is opt in and say, ‘Yeah, that’s what I want to do.’”

More than 700 students transferred from Maine community colleges to University of Maine campuses during the last school year.

UMaine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy hopes the program will complement the state’s free community college initiative. The program helped drive an increase in community college enrollment over the past few years, and Malloy said the new agreement will make it easier for those students to continue their education.

“We think of it as a natural flow for people who want a baccalaureate degree to begin the preparation for that degree substantially earlier. In other words, don’t be surprised by anything, because you’ve worked on it before you walked in the door.”

Students will be eligible if they graduate from certain community college programs, such as cybersecurity, education, liberal studies and accounting.

This article appears through a media partnership with Maine Public .