Gov. Janet Mills, left, University of Maine Chancellor Dannel Malloy, and Maine Community College System President David Daigler celebrate after signing the Transfer ME agreement on Wednesday, which will grant some community college students guaranteed enrollment at UMaine schools. Daniel Kool/Staff Writer

SOUTH PORTLAND — Certain graduates of Maine’s community colleges will be guaranteed admission and offered a streamlined application process to one of the University of Maine’s seven campuses starting this fall.

Transfer ME, a new agreement between the University of Maine and Maine Community College systems, will allow students in certain degree programs to enroll in a public university without filling out an application, paying application fees, or providing additional materials like old transcripts and letters of recommendation, state and education officials announced Wednesday afternoon.

The program will be open to students pursuing degrees in dozens of fields – ranging from accounting to biology to early childhood education – once they have completed their associate’s degree. Eligible students also will receive joint advising from both systems, the officials said in a statement.

David Daigler, president of the community college system, said the change “takes away the guesswork” for students looking to continue their college education by providing a guaranteed path. That guarantee, he said, also provides a major incentive for students to complete their associate degree.

He said getting a two-year degree, which some view as a sort of halfway point to a bachelor’s, can be a crucial motivator for students unsure about their trajectory.

About 54% of Maine’s high school graduates enrolled in college in the fall of 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, according to Educate Maine, a nonprofit focused on education advocacy and policy. That’s about a 6% drop since before the pandemic.

Among those who enroll in college in Maine, only around 61% earn a degree within six years of their first semester, according to the data.

Speaking from the Spring Point Children’s Center at Southern Maine Community College, Gov. Janet Mills said the program is part of a broader effort to expand Maine’s educational opportunities and increase graduation rates statewide, which will ultimately boost the rest of the state’s economy.

“It’s not just about education,” Mills said. “It’s about economic development.”

Dannel Malloy, chancellor of the UMaine system, said the program is about ensuring the state has enough of a workforce to fill needed jobs and continue growing. He emphasized that the public university and community college systems aim to work together, rather than competing for the same pool of students.

“We’re not competitors, we’re partners,” Malloy said. “We have an obligation to the students who choose us and the students who choose you, and quite frankly the taxpayers who support us both.”

Over the 2023-24 school year, the UMaine system saw 737 students transfer from community colleges. Though that figure was less than the previous year’s 681 transfer students, Mills said it makes up only a fraction of the thousands enrolled at either school.

“Today, that begins to change,” she said.

Malloy expects to see transfer figures increase, but did not specify how many transfers the university hopes to see next year. In an interview after the event, Malloy said the program’s success would be evaluated on a yearly basis.

“The first year is a start year. I think we’ll get better at it,” he said.

Of more than 23,600 undergraduates enrolled for the 2023-24 school year, more than 16,000 come from Maine, said Samantha Warren, spokesperson for the system.

But in Maine’s community colleges, in-state students make up 95% of enrollment, according to the system’s internal data.

Daigler said the community college and public university systems tend to exist in “very distinct spaces,” since the latter is generally more focused on drawing students from outside Maine.

“Our students are coming from their own communities,” Daigler said in an interview after signing the agreement. “It’s a very community-based operation. If you talk to any of our presidents, they’re going to be able to tell you what’s going on in their communities.”

Malloy said Transfer ME builds on Mills’ previous work to offer free tuition to the state’s community college students. That program, launched in 2022, has helped drive significant increases in enrollment.

When that program began, Malloy said the university system saw a 179% increase in students who applied to both public universities and community colleges before choosing the latter. But many of those students can make their way to UMaine under the new program, he said.

“This is one of those agreements that in the long run is going to pay great dividends,” Malloy said.