Program looks to build interest in higher education

    Maine College Circle, a Maine-based non-profit, has announced a significant expansion of its efforts to interest more Maine students in the opportunity of higher education. The group, led by its director, Bob Stuart, has provided college workshops, college scholarships and college advice to over 250 Maine communities.  Its focus is on helping elementary and middle school students, particularly those in more rural Maine communities, build their aspirations for higher education. In addition to college workshops and college scholarships for elementary and middle school students statewide, Maine College Circle is launching Maine’s newest and youngest college, which will support community-based college courses for elementary and middle school students to help them build a better understanding of and interest in the opportunities that higher education can offer them.
    Maine College Circle cites four cornerstones to seeing more Maine students make more of the opportunity of higher education: information, early aspirations, community engagement and the development of student interest in the opportunity of education. After more than 20 years of talking with students throughout Maine about the opportunity of higher education, Stuart sees a very significant imbalance between more affluent southern Maine communities and more rural parts of Maine in the availability of accurate information about higher education, the aspirations and confidence of young students and the role of communities.
    “The interest in higher education is there, statewide, in elementary school, but it fades fast. Steering disinterested and disengaged students on to higher education is a poor investment of everyone’s resources,” said Stuart, a long-time college counselor.
    Today, roughly 80 percent of 9th graders graduate from high school. Roughly 60 percent of those enroll in college for at least a day. And, roughly 40 percent of those graduate from college within six years. That means that roughly two out of 10 9th graders graduate from college.
    More information is available at www.mainecollegecircle.org.