Students leaving state for college
Study suggests better funding
Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc.
ORONO — A new report says that Maine high school graduates want to go to college, but that a lot of them head out of state to do so.
Philip Trostel, a researcher at the University of Maine's Margaret Chase Smith Center for Public Policy, concludes that the proportion of Maine high school graduates who go on to college is only slightly below the national average.
But Trostel's study, "Economic Prosperity in Maine: Held Back by the Lack of Higher Education," also says that 50 percent of Maine students go to college outside the state. That ranks Maine 47th out of the 50 states in the percentage of students who stay in their home states for college.
Trostel's study is due for publication in the next couple of weeks in the Maine Policy Review, published by the Margaret Chase Smith Center.
"Low college attainment in Maine is mainly due to low college attendance within the state, not low college attendance by young Mainers," said Trostel, an associate professor of economics at the University of Maine.
Trostel said Mainers choose to go to college outside the state partly because tuition at the University of Maine System campuses is too high.
Although Maine ranks in the top 20 states in per capita public spending on kindergarten through 12th grade education, the state ranks among the bottom 10 states in per capita spending on higher education, Trostel said.
Trostel says there is a link between the number of Mainers who attend college in state, and the state's lack of economic prosperity. Maine ranks 35th in the country — and last in New England — for median household income.
If young people stay in Maine for their postsecondary education, better-paying jobs will follow, according to Trostel.
"High-paying businesses tend to gravitate to where the highly skilled workers are being produced," he said.
Trostel said Mainers are aware of the importance of higher education and the connection between education and income levels. However, he said, "they're not putting their money where their mouth is."
"We haven't made it a high enough priority, at least not as high as other states have," he said.