UMPI, UMFK use tuition to lure out-of-state students

The University of Maine at Fort Kent and the University of Maine at Presque Isle unveiled on Tuesday a new tuition rate for out-of-state and international students that represents a 40% price reduction in those markets, decreasing the yearly tuition cost from $16,560 to $9,900.

Starting with the fall 2014 semester, the two UMaine campuses plan to offer out-of-state students the same tuition rate extended to students who participate in the New England Board of Higher Education Tuition Break Program. For the past few years, the tuition rate at UMFK and UMPI has been $220 per credit hour for Maine residents, $330 per credit hour for residents from the New England states and Canada and $552 per credit hour for all other out-of-state and international students.

The new change means all students in that third category will also receive the $330 per credit hour tuition rate.

In a press release announcing the new tuition rate, Bob Dorsey, president and CEO of Aroostook Partnership for Progress, highlighted its potential as a catalyst for economic development in Aroostook County.

“We know that our regional students have benefited from these universities' cost-effective rates and with this new initiative, we will hopefully see students from all over the country benefit as well,” he said. “It is Aroostook Partnership for Progress's hope that this will not only attract more students to the County but that we can find more internship opportunities for them so that they are more inclined to stay here and help grow the vitality of our work force.”

This out-of-state rate reduction comes when projected employment opportunities in Aroostook County over the next five years are increasing and the 18- to 44-year-old workforce is decreasing, the release stated.

UMPI President Linda Schott said the two university campuses anticipate the tuition reduction will lead to more out-of-state and international students coming to Aroostook County for college, providing “an even more geographically diverse student body.”