It’s getting late and most offices on campus have closed for the night. But not everyone has gone home. Papers are still being graded, classrooms are being cleaned up. The lights that are still on cast shadows of a long day. The work continues and night melts into day, days into semesters. From up high, a message from the chancellor trickles down through the campuses. A projected deficit looms over the system. Faced with cuts, targets are painted on the backs of faculty and staff as well as their programs. In spite of changes beyond their control, they keep on working, they keep on teaching and they keep on taking care of their students while they can.
Where have all the students gone?
Maine high school graduates are becoming a rare commodity. High school graduates are the raw material Maine universities use to cultivate revenue. Over 80 percent of University of Maine System students are Maine residents. And those prospective students are disappearing.
The steep drop in enrollment in Maine universities parallels Maine’s declining population.
With declining enrollment revenue, it’s hard to keep the lights on at seven independent campuses. Coupled with other economic factors, this has left the UMS with a projected $90 million deficit by 2020. And the system has had to rethink how it does business.
Becoming One
It’s been over a year since the UMS announced its slightly vague plan of “One university for all of Maine.” Decreasing its overall footprint and upgrading technology may cost the system over $60 million, according to reports. To dig up the funding will take new partnerships and clever marketing strategies to increase enrollment. And forget about raising the price of tuition: it’s frozen and there’s no thaw in sight. So is a more unified system the answer?
“It has really broken down barriers between the campuses and allowed us to get to know our colleagues better,” UMPI President Linda Schott said.
In the past, Maine’s seven sister campuses have attracted students how they wanted. This opened the door to competition within the system. But inter-family competition wasn’t conducive to business.
“It’s time we quit competing with each other and focus on how to serve our students,” Schott said.
UMPI, along with the rest of the system, is putting more emphasis on attracting out-of-state students. And even though the system is running toward the same goal, the campuses are trying not to step on one another’s toes.
“We lean on each other and figure out what’s best while still focusing on the individual campuses,” Ben Shaw, UMPI’s chief business officer, said.
The shift to become one has taken away some control from the campuses, but not their identities.
“Sure you can be different and be valuable to the system,” Schott said.
What sets UMPI apart is its integration of proficiency-based education. The change in instruction has showed positive results, but has increased faculty workload. Schott said faculty realized the need to modify how they teach to attract more students or “they could possibly lose their jobs,” she said.
It’s early in what Schott said is a “transition in philosophy” and UMPI is focused on continuing its development of PBE. But to work as one university the system still has some communication skills to improve on. As Shaw said, “everybody is pushing that wheel the same way.”
“We’ll be better off together than apart,” Schott said. “There’s a lot more to be done.”
While Maine’s high school graduate population is drying up, the UMS isn’t sitting idle. The system recognizes that times are changing and to keep its classrooms full it, too, needs to adapt. But change doesn’t come from up high. Waving your hand and declaring “One University” doesn’t fix the problem in an instant. Change comes from those on the ground, rooted in the day-to-day efforts of operating a university. Change happens when an individual is valued. Let’s hope as the UMS becomes one, it doesn’t forget about the many taking care of its campuses and its students.
