Maine community colleges forced to close chapter on free tuition

Photo / Renee Cordes Southern Maine Community College is Maine's largest and oldest community college. Founded in 1946, SMCC offers courses at its South Portland and Brunswick campuses, at community satellite locations and online.

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By Alexis Wells

This year's graduates of Maine community colleges will be the last to benefit from a free tuition program after state lawmakers declined to continue funding in the budget signed by Gov. Janet Mills on Monday.

The Free College Scholarship, launched in 2022, covered all tuition and mandatory fees for full-time students who graduated from high school or passed an equivalency exam in 2020-2023.

The state budget signed Monday includes one-time funding of $20 million to cover free tuition for current students and the Class of 2025; a 4% increase to base funding; and one-time funding to cover new paid family medical leave costs.

Since the program began, a total of 17,926 free college-eligible students have enrolled at Maine's community colleges. And in the fall of 2023, there were 8,989 eligible students enrolled, out of a total enrollment of 21,385 students. Enrollment has jumped 23% since the pre-pandemic fall 2019 enrollment of 17,327.

“It’s dispiriting to have such a successful program benefiting so many people – students, their families, Maine employers – come to an end,” said David Daigler, president of the Maine Community College System. “We’ll continue our mission to provide affordable, relevant education and training that prepares people for good jobs in Maine – but it will be harder to reach all the deserving, motivated and hard-working students who came to the colleges because of the free college scholarship.”

Tuition and fees are $4,156 a year for a full-time student, and more than 50% of MCCS students qualify for federal Pell grants that often cover those costs.

“I want each one of the potential students who are disappointed they won’t get the scholarship to know that Maine’s community colleges are still very, very affordable, and we’ll help them any way we can to make ends meet,” said Daigler.

The Maine Community College System is Maine's comprehensive two-year college system with a total enrollment of 17,500 students at seven institutions led by Southern Maine Community College. SMCC also ranks fourth largest among all Maine colleges and universities in the 2025 Mainebiz Book off Lists, based on full-time undergraduate enrollment of 2,843 in fall 2024.