MAINE, USA — More students are enrolling in Maine’s community colleges this year.
The state’s community college system said Thursday enrollment was up a little more than 4% from 2018 to 2019. The system said the total tally at Maine’s seven community colleges was more than 17,000 according to a count from mid-October.
The system said the growing number of students is the reverse of a national trend that has seen declining enrollments at public two-year colleges. The Maine community college to gain the most students was Southern Maine Community College in South Portland. Enrollment there went up almost 9%.
The community college system attributed the growth to an increase in enrollment for high-demand programs. One of the programs is the health professions. The number of students studying toward those careers is up 19 percent from last year.
