News icon New Report on College-Going in Maine

The Mitchell Institute has completed a new report on college-going, persistence, and completion among Maine high school graduates from 2006 to 2013. College-going has remained stable at just above 60% in recent years, coinciding with an increase in high school graduation rates from 80% in 2009 to 86% in 2013.

  • Fewer than one-half (48%) of economically disadvantaged high school graduates enrolled in college in 2013, the lowest rate of any demographic subgroup.
  • Female high school graduates enrolled in college at a rate of 69%, compared with 56% of Maine’s male high school graduates. Asian (69%) and White (62%) high school graduates enrolled in college at higher rates than American Indian (60%), Black or African American (59%) or Hispanic/Latino (55%) students.
  • Students who meet the state academic standards in math and reading are much more likely to enroll in college (80% and 78% respectively) than are those who do not meet the standards (49% and 50%).
  • Among Maine’s Superintendent regions, 2013 graduates’ college-going rates ranged from a low of 58% in Kennebec Valley and the Mid-Coast to a high of 70% in Cumberland County.

Looking beyond initial college enrollment:

  • Freshman to sophomore year persistence rates indicate that 83% of Maine students who enrolled in college after graduating from high school in 2011 returned for a second year.
  • College graduation, measured as the proportion of college enrollees who complete a degree within 150% of normal program time–six years for a bachelor’s degree or three years for an associate degree–increased from 52% in 2012 to 56% in the 2013.

The Mitchell Institute worked with the Maine Department of Education and the National Student Clearinghouse on this project, and distributed school-level reports on these statistics to all Maine public high schools earlier this month. Download the full 8-page report: Maine College-Going Data Brief 2014. Visit our Maine Education Research page for the detailed Maine report from the National Student Clearinghouse, and to see more of our recent research work.