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Dannel Malloy
Updated: May 21, 2024
UMaine System trustees extend chancellor’s contract, OK tuition hike
File Photo / Courtesy of University of Maine System
Dannel Malloy, at center in blue suit, will lead the University of Maine System through June 30, 2027, after trustees approved a two-year contract extension,
Dannel Malloy’s contract as chancellor of the University of Maine System has been extended another two years, until June 30, 2027.
UMaine System trustees approved the extension the same day they OK'd a balanced operating budget with a 3% in-state undergraduate tuition increase, expanded differential tuition for high-cost programs, and increases to mandatory fees, room and board.
The total listed price, including tuition, mandatory fees, room and board, for a full-time Maine undergraduate student will increase by an average of $821 across the system in the 2024-25 academic year.
Terms of Malloy’s contract, including compensation, have not yet been decided, and it is now up to the board chair and vice chair to negotiate the contract extension details, according to a spokeswoman for the UMaine System.
Malloy, 68, became chancellor in 2019 following more than two decades of public service including as a prosecutor in Brooklyn, N.Y.; mayor of Stamford, Conn.; and two-term Democratic governor of Connecticut.
At the helm of the University of Maine System, he leads the state's largest educational enterprise. It is made up of seven universities across the state — some with multiple campuses — as well as a law school, an additional 31 course sites and the Cooperative Extension program.
“Under the leadership of Chancellor Malloy and his strong team of presidents and staff, Maine’s public universities have improved educational quality and student outcomes, increased philanthropy and partnerships and launched innovative new programming," said Trish Riley, who chairs the system’s board of trustees.
“Extending the chancellor’s contract ensures he can continue to move this important work forward and deliver on the real potential of these investments and initiatives to strengthen our system and serve our state.”
Unified accreditation
In 2020, Malloy led the system to become the first in the nation to unify its individual institutional accreditations, allowing its public universities to more easily collaborate and combine resources.
For example, the University of Maine at Fort Kent now delivers its in-demand nursing program both in the St. John Valley and at the University of Maine at Presque Isle. Both institutions also share a student financial aid director with the University of Maine and its regional campus in Machias.
‘Necessary’ increase
In a news release about the tuition increase, the UMaine System claimed that Maine’s public universities remain the most affordable in New England, and that when adjusted for inflation, tuition and fee costs are actually decreasing.
“Proposing a tuition increase is not something we take lightly but is necessary now to meet obligations to our employees and start making the investments needed to support our students and their success and stabilize our institutions’ infrastructure,” Malloy said.
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