USM helps working adults advance their learning
Tina Howe, an enrollment counselor in the office of admissions at the University of Southern Maine, has been working with area businesses to help their employees explore opportunities in higher education.
Howe told the Lewiston Sun Journal that part of her job as an enrollment counselor is convincing adults who have started and stopped college that it’s worth another shot. Howe came to that realization from her own experience, she told the paper. She was at USM, flunked out, then returned at age 21 to obtain her bachelor’s and then master’s degree.
Today, she’s telling workers and leaders at local businesses how further educational opportunities can benefit both.
"What we're trying to do is bring the services to them rather than them having to come to us, because as adults, we're busy," Howe told the paper.
The pool of potential adult students is deep.
"In Southern Maine, it's over 200,000 who have started college and not finished," Howe said.
One-third of USM's students are nontraditional, age 25 or older.
USM has campuses in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston. Community partners include state and local government, global businesses, teaching hospitals, sports teams, performing arts venues and dozens of other organizations in the largest metropolitan areas in Maine. According to USM, the partnerships provide students with hands-on learning experiences on real-world issues through research and fieldwork, internships and public service projects. Adult students who are returning to college are provided with advising support. The enrollment counselor is their first point of contact.
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