Maine’s Free College Scholarship ends with the Class of 2025 graduates after state lawmakers declined to fund future graduating classes in the budget signed by the governor on Monday.
The Free College Scholarship, which started in fall 2022, is a last-dollar scholarship that covers 100% of tuition and mandatory fees at Maine’s community colleges for recent high school graduates. The state previously approved the Classes of 2023-25 for the scholarship, which will continue to be available to those students. Qualifying high school graduates have up to two years post-graduation to enroll, and up to four years to complete an associate degree, so Free College Scholarship students will continue to be enrolled at the colleges for several more years.
It would take a separate act of the legislature to continue the scholarship beyond the Class of 2025.
“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 (MCCS). “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.”
“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,” Daigler said.
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.
The state budget signed Monday includes one-time funding of $20 million for MCCS to pay for the Free College Scholarship 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 fall 2022, 17,826 Free College-eligible students have enrolled at Maine’s community colleges. In fall 2024, there were 8,989 Free College-eligible students enrolled, out of a total enrollment of 21,385 students. Enrollment has increased 23% since the pre-pandemic fall 2019 enrollment of 17,327.
