Sen. Tipping introduces bill to promote enrollment in the University of Maine System
AUGUSTA — On Monday, Mar. 6, Sen. Mike Tipping, D-Orono, introduced LD 512, “An Act to Promote Student Enrollment and Degree Completion in the University of Maine System by Providing Tuition Waivers to Eligible Students,” in front of the Joint Standing Committee on Education and Cultural Affairs.
“In my district, which includes Orono and Old Town, I know many people who have dropped out of school or who are having difficulty continuing their education right now,” said Sen. Tipping. “The cost of education, combined with the stresses of the last few years and rampant inflation, has brought many students to the breaking point. At the same time, they’re not getting more even when they pay more. UMaine has some beautiful new buildings with donors’ names on them, but it also has more than a billion dollars in deferred maintenance. Students are more likely to see bricks fall off a facade or sit next to a pipe that’s too hot to touch than to get to use the world’s largest 3D printer. Many of their classes are now being taught by adjuncts, who themselves aren’t making a living wage.”
Students from the University of Maine System also came out to testify on behalf of LD 512, including Nicholas Tiner, a senior civil engineering student at the University of Maine.
“The current resources to assist prospective students financially are insufficient, and with enrollment trending downward, action needs to be taken,” said Tiner. “This is why I firmly believe LD 512 is what we as students, and as Mainers, need to make UMaine the best university it can be. LD 512 will make education for Maine students more accessible and provide a much-needed shot in the arm for a campus that has never fully bounced back from the pandemic.”
This legislation would establish two tuition waivers for students enrolled at a campus in the University of Maine System. The first waiver provides up to 50% tuition for up to four years for a full-time student who is a Maine high school graduate from the classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025 or obtains the equivalent to a high school diploma in those same years. The second waiver provides up to 50% tuition for up to one year for returning students who have resided in the state for at least five years and are 30 or fewer credits away from degree completion, which is roughly two semesters worth of credits. This bill would also require the school to report on the use and success of these waivers.
The bill faces further action in committee.
