College ambitions grow in Maine, but enrollment is on the decline

Portland Press Herald, July 19, 2007

(excerpts) The study, which Brooks worked on, showed that from 2001 to 2005 the number of Mainers who left high school with plans to attend college increased, but fewer actually enrolled.

Sixty-four percent of seniors graduating in 2001 said they planned to attend college, compared with 70 percent in 2005, the study found, but actual enrollment dropped from 62 percent to 57 percent.

In 2006, 26.9 percent of Mainers 25 or older had bachelor's degrees. The rate for the other five New England states was 35 percent, and the national average was 28 percent.

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Since then, there has been a major push in Maine to raise college admission levels. The state Department of Education now requires all students to take college-entrance exams, and the Legislature passed a measure this year that will require every high school student to fill out an application to a college or other post-secondary school, or the military.

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Education Commissioner Susan Gendron said the study's findings add weight to her push to end academic tracking in high schools.

Department of Education officials are drafting a measure to put before the Legislature next year to end tracking by 2010. The bill also would require a review of all the state's high schools to ensure that their courses are as rigorous as the state standards and that they offer learning opportunities, such as apprenticeships, that appeal to boys.