Several key factors have contributed to enrollment growth of 76% system wide in the past five years. The removal of barriers including fees and strict admissions requirements has been critical to ensuring equitable access. Campuses system-wide enhanced their marketing efforts, and existing relationships between high schools and universities were strengthened while new partnerships were created. State investment enabled campuses to add staff to provide direct student support and college advising, and to serve as liaisons between high schools and universities. The ExplorEC portal made it easier for all students to access courses, regardless of their geographic location or high school participation level. Homeschool families have also realized the value and benefits, and almost 300 homeschool students have accessed Early College (EC) courses since fall 2019. Most recently, campuses have responded to the needs of high schools as demand surged in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Enrollment highlights by campus:
The University of Maine (UMaine) previously offered a limited number of seats in their Academ-e program which targeted high achieving students. In order to avoid competition, UMaine focused on growth in summer programming, while also expanding equitable opportunities to all students during the school year. UMaine employed specific initiatives to increase student supports by adding additional staffing using Master of Social Work (MSW) interns and graduate student workers when possible.
The University of Maine at Augusta (UMA) has offered a high-quality concurrent enrollment (CE) program, and has been key to the success of the Bridge Academy partnership with Career and Technical Education (CTE) high schools. UMA’s has unique partnerships with high schools in target areas such as aviation and CIS/cyber security.
The University of Maine at Farmington (UMF) was the only campus that did not have a specific EC program. Initial growth was focused on private schools, but recent shifts to online opportunities have provided critical courses (e.g. calculus) as well as unique career exploration offerings (e.g. rehabilitation services). UMF has committed to EC growth in their recently developed strategic plan, and will be hiring a dedicated, full-time EC Director in the near future.
The University of Maine at Fort Kent’s (UMFK) RuralU program has been a model for access and success for underserved students. This program was already large and widespread, so has shown modest growth. However, the UMFK has continued to be a leader in innovation with new offerings such as Early College+ (online courses offered to a cohort of students with embedded high school support), pathways development, and an initiative to provide students their first year of nursing credentials before graduating from high school.
The University of Maine at Machias (UMM) had a small EC program focused primarily in Washington County. With the system-appropriation, UMM created a dedicated full-time EC Director position, which has resulted in significant growth in headcount and partnerships with high schools statewide. UMM is also piloting the addition of select concurrent enrollment courses as well as incentives for admission to UMM and other University of Maine System (UMS) campuses. UMM has 14 Early College Certificates- ten of which can be earned fully online.
The University of Maine at Presque Isle’s (UMPI) EC program enrollment is largely focused on CE programs. UMPI has developed procedures and processes to support faculty and high school teacher collaboration while working towards meeting accreditation standards.
The University of Southern Maine (USM) had a well-established and longstanding program in math, providing statistics and calculus CE courses statewide, and have since added CE courses in other content areas such as foreign languages, physics, and environmental science. Over the last year, USM has also seen increased student interest and participation in online and on-campus courses. In response to System and state-wide policy changes, combined with campus-level staff commitments, USM now supports the largest early college program.
Early College Enrollment (Sum of Unduplicated Headcount at Each Institution):
Student Enrollment in Early College Students by Institution, Program, and Academic Year:
University of Maine (UMaine)
Program
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
Online/On campus
203
201
222
380
547
Bridge Academy
114
87
7
34
12
Concurrent Enrollment (at the high school)
0
0
0
20
60
Total EC (includes duplicates)
317
288
229
434
619
Total Students Served (Unduplicated1)
317
288
229
429
617
University of Maine at Augusta (UMA)
Program
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
Online/On campus
141
244
414
549
475
Bridge Academy
213
234
167
148
122
Concurrent Enrollment
67
15
11
19
439
Total EC (includes duplicates)
421
493
592
716
1,036
Total Students Served (Unduplicated1)
419
493
591
667
983
University of Maine at Farmington (UMF)
Program
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
Online/On campus
18
10
9
19
21
Concurrent Enrollment
–
8
61
184
110
Total EC (includes duplicates)
18
18
70
203
131
Total Students Served (Unduplicated1)
18
18
70
200
131
University of Maine at Fort Kent (UMFK)
Program
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
Online/On campus
293
368
309
315
386
Bridge Academy
0
31
7
5
0
Concurrent Enrollment
362
506
498
555
487
Total EC (includes duplicates)
655
905
814
875
873
Total Students Served (Unduplicated1)
602
849
778
808
809
University of Maine at Machias (UMM)
Program
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
Online/On campus
127
123
143
165
236
Total EC (includes duplicates)
127
123
143
165
236
Total Students Served (Unduplicated1)
127
123
143
165
236
University of Maine at Presque Isle (UMPI)
Program
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
Online/On campus
171
143
165
152
119
Concurrent Enrollment
281
392
487
572
547
Total EC (includes duplicates)
452
535
652
724
666
Total Students Served (Unduplicated1)
426
506
608
679
641
University of Southern Maine (USM)
Program
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
Online/On campus
136
190
191
282
322
Bridge Academy
0
11
4
0
0
Concurrent Enrollment
574
628
537
650
986
Total EC (includes duplicates)
710
829
732
932
1,308
Total Students Served (Unduplicated1)
703
824
729
896
1,270
University of Maine System (UMS)
Totals
2015-16
2016-17
2017-18
2018-19
2019-20
Sum of Each Institution’s Unduplicated Headcount1
2,612
3,101
3,148
3,844
4,687
Total Unique Number of EC Students Served2
2,383
2,793
2,909
3,513
4,183
Students Served by Multiple Institutions
229
308
239
331
504
Notes:
Unduplicated EC Student Headcount -represents the distinct number of students enrolled in that institution’s EC programs (for example, a student enrolled in online/on campus and Bridge Year at UMaine is counted once in each of those programs and only once in UMaine’s Unduplicated EC Headcount). The difference between the institution Total and the Unduplicated Headcount represents the number of EC students participating in multiple types of EC programs at that institution.
Total Unique Number of Students Served – At the system level each student is counted only once per academic year, no matter how many EC programs or institutions they enrolled in that year.
Data for 2018-19 reflect the implementation of a new coding scheme for EC to better reflect simultaneous participation in multiple programs.
Summer 2020 Enrollment:
Summer enrollment in 2020 almost doubled from the previous year. This is likely due, in part, to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. After months of emergency online high school instruction and lockdowns, students had time in their schedules and were eager for an opportunity to engage in college-level online courses. Summer sessions can be challenging for high school students, however, because of the shortened time-frame and intensive approach.
