Wary of debt, students pursuing higher education turn to one option that can be practically free, where they can learn a technical trade or use the school as a steppingstone on the path to a four-year degree.

Lahana Palencia was like many graduating high school students: planning to go to college, not sure what she wanted to study and scared of racking up a lot of student debt while she figured it all out. “I graduated from (Pittsfield) high school an honors student. But I was like, I don’t know what I […]

It started with a scholarship and the kernel of a plan. Dan Lambert had already been studying machining for two years as a high school student at the Biddeford Regional Center of Technology, and as a graduating senior faced a crossroads about what to do next. He knew he wanted an engineering degree. The question […]

When Breeanna Zoidis of Casco headed off to college, she wanted to get out of Maine. So she enrolled at Elmira College in New York, where tuition, room and board are more than $51,000 a year. Even with a scholarship, two years there put her $40,000 in debt. Today, the older and wiser 24-year-old Zoidis […]

Wary of debt, students pursuing higher education turn to one option that can be practically free, where they can learn a technical trade or use the school as a steppingstone on the path to a four-year degree.