Democrat lawmakers are now looking to extend funding that makes community college free for all Maine residents — a benefit that was introduced as an extraordinary measure three years ago.
To qualify for the proposed program, students would need to (1) enroll in an associate degree, diploma, or certificate program at a participating institution, (2) live in Maine for the duration of their enrollment, and (3) accept all available sources of funding offered to them.
For these students, the payment of all tuition and mandatory fees would be waived. Once granted, a waiver would be valid for up to twice the stated completion time for a given student’s program of study.
Beginning on January 1, 2027, the System would be required to submit a report to the Governor, Education Committee, and Appropriations Committee detailing the “status of the program.”
This bill was sponsored by Rep. Holly T. Sargent (D-York) and cosponsored by a number of other Democratic lawmakers, including members of the party’s legislative leadership.
LD 1118 has been referred to the Education and Cultural Affairs Committee for further consideration, but a public hearing for the bill is not yet on the books.
If approved, this proposal would effectively make permanent a program that has been in place on a temporary basis for the past several years and was originally intended to aid students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Click Here for More Information on LD 1118
That program — first adopted by lawmakers in 2022 — allowed those who graduated high school in 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023 to attend Maine’s community colleges tuition-free.
This benefit was recently extended, however, to include students who graduated from high school in 2024 and 2025, representing a roughly $15 million investment by the state.
During the first wave of the program, approximately 6,400 students were estimated to have attended community college in Maine tuition-free.
It is unclear at this time exactly how much it would cost the state annually to make this program a permanent facet of Maine’s community college system.
Another bill, sponsored by Senate President Mattie Daughtry (D-Cumberland), aims to provide additional monetary support for the Maine Community College System.
If approved, LD 680 would provide millions of dollars in ongoing funding to the state’s seven community colleges to “support students’ learning and completion for a credential of value.”
As it is currently written, $6 million would be appropriated for FY2025-26, while $6.3 million would be set aside in FY2026-27.
During the public hearing for this bill held earlier this week, Senate President Daughtry argued that this is “essential ongoing funding” that would help “ensure our community colleges have the resources they need to continue offering high-quality support services to students across the state.”
She also pointed out how enrollment has significantly increased in recent years as a result of the pandemic-related free enrollment programs, suggesting that the additional funding is necessary to help students “overcome barriers to completing their education.”
Representatives from each of Maine’s community colleges also offered testimony in support of this additional funding.
Click Here for More Information on LD 680
According to Coursera, 33 states — including Maine — currently offer some form of tuition-free community college education, although the degree to which these benefits are restricted varies from place to place.
For example, some states may stipulate that students must pursue a degree in a particular subject in order to qualify, while others may require that graduates work in the state for at least so many years after graduation.
As it is currently written, LD 1118 would likely make Maine’s free community college program one of the least restrictive in the country.
<span class="dsq-postid" data-dsqidentifier="36916 https://www.themainewire.com/?p=36916">22 Comments
Democrats in Maine are stupid enough to think college is free.
Free AFTER you have paid for it with YOUR tax dollars .
We need fewer democrats and more common sense .
Only when the student earns a scholarship should college be free.
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Free? I find it hard to believe all the instructors, etc are willing to work for free oh wait it really isn’t free , another nail in the coffin of the Maine taxpayer
Someone should ask Rep. Holly T. Sargent (D-York) what her definition of FREE is.
I believe it is for non-citizens as well. as always..
There’s never any discussion about the escalating cost of higher education – which must be thought to be an unchangeable force of nature by every politician. There’s no requirement of graduation nor does the graduate need to find a job in the field of his/her free associate of science degree.
Politicians that think like this need to be returned to the private sector; they do not represent me or others like me.
I don’t see the problem with this. Community Colleges are the primary trade schools in the state and the construction, healthcare, transportation, automotive and public safety sectors of the workforce are who attend the classes.
You can’t cry about how no one wants to join the trades and how no one is attending trade schools, then balk at one of the solutions to fix the ongoing shortage of experienced labor in the state.
No wonder why industries keep leaving this state, people from both parties have us in the constant cycle of we have no jobs -> no one can stay here because we lack good paying jobs -> but we don’t want to spend anything to attract them and it can’t have any environmental impact.
The first day of my two year MBA program at Cornell we were told that: “There is no free lunch”. Someone, i.e. the Maine taxpayers, are paying for every student to attend the “free” junior college program. Socialism is not “free”.
Of course it should be free. The teachers should donate their time, the school should supply the space out of their operating budget, the alumni donors should pick up the tab for everything else.
How come free means free to everyone except you? Democrats tiny brain shutting down.
@ Luke, maybe those industries should be paying for the education then.
Maine’s Dumbocraps should direct their energy to improving Maine’s now deplorable primary and secondary school rankings. I will bet that many, if not most, students graduating from Maine’s high schools and then applying to Maine’s community colleges, are sorely deficient in reading, writing, and math. Prove me wrong.
Why should my tax dollars be spent paying for these community colleges when the state has wasted the tax dollars we’ve had to pay for primary and secondary school?
@Bingo Industries are already putting money towards it as is. Cianbro, Nickerson O’Day, Reed & Reed, Sargent, Dead River, Versant, CMP, just to name a few have donated equipment, materials and tools to improve the programs as well as the quality of graduates entering the workforce. Many Police and Fire Depts loan instructors and trainers to the various programs as well. The state has wasted money on worse things, than paying for someone to go through a trade school.
@ED Pare I don’t even know what the point of sending kids to High School is anymore. They teach you absolutely nothing of substance. Personally the reason why I think the school scores have tanked, is because they base the curriculum entirely around how to take the SAT. That is the only thing schools are worried about, is how to improve the SAT scores. They literally spend a good portion of the school year teaching kids how to take the test… Which I am not going to blame all of it on the teachers, they have a hard job as is. Kids have only become worse the last 5 years, I don’t know how teachers can deal with them or the parents who are irate because the teacher tried to correct 18 years of crappy parenting.
Additionally, there is no reason why we should be requiring someone who wants to enter the trades, to have to learn a second language or any of the other add-ons you have to do to get a diploma today. There is so much crap they add on to a degree, you have to take an arts class, a language class, x amount of electives, etc…
@Ed Pare I forgot to add, that even when you graduate what you learned in high school doesn’t even translate to college. I am just using this as an example, but if high schools are teaching kids to read and write at the 10th grade level, colleges are expecting students to be able to read at the 12th grade level. So pretty much every english, math, and science course taught in high school doesn’t correlate to college.
@Luke, that is great but maybe they need to pay mire so taxpayers to not have to foot the bill, especially for all non residents and illegals.
@Bingo Pretty sure it only applies to Maine residents anyway.
@ Luke as far as i know it applies to all students regardless of their residency and whether they are illegal or not, unless something changed.
The people this really should be directed toward are folks in their 30s and 40s — who need the CC education to get a better job and can either work for the next 30-35 years or be on welfare for life. This includes the people who never graduated from high school and the people go got useless college degrees 10-15 years ago and need/want to learn a trade.
This will never happen because none of these are people that General Mills wants to help — maybe they should have stayed in high school, maybe not gotten pregnant, maybe not gone to college for underwater basketweaving — but that was 10-15 years ago and this is NOW.
@Bingo I have only ever seen that it applies to Maine graduates, I know some friends of mine from NH who went through the lineman program at KVCC had to pay for it out of pocket. I would have to look into it more before I could definitely say it doesn’t apply to illegals.
@Luke. It applies to Maine residents. There is no stipulation as to legal status. Thus, it will apply to illegal aliens resident in Maine.