Overview of Maine Colleges and Universities

Each region of the northeastern state of Maine offers a variety of colleges and universities. These include a number of two-year community colleges, several universities which offer both two and four year degrees, specialized colleges, and various other types. Read on for an overview of each major type of colleges and universities in Maine...

TWO-YEAR COLLEGES: Community colleges, which offer two-year degrees and various certificates, include CMCC (Auburn, cmcc.edu), SMCC (S. Portland, smccme.edu), KVCC (Fairfield, kvcc.edu), YCCC (Wells, yccc.edu), EMCC (Bangor, emcc.edu), WCCC (Calais/Eastport, wccc.me.edu), and NMCC (Presque Isle, nmcc.edu). Community colleges generally have the lowest tuition costs. Some have dorms on campus (CMCC, NMCC) and most offer degrees in technical and business subjects. A small private two-year college (Andover College) offers degrees in similar subjects and has campuses in Lewiston and Portland, with more details on its web site. Another two-year private college (Beal College, bealcollege.edu) is located in Bangor.

UNIVERSITIES: There are several universities in this state which primarily offer four-year degrees, but also provide some two-year degrees and certificates. These include the University of Southern Maine (Portland and Gorham campuses, usm.maine.edu), University of Maine at Augusta (uma.edu), The University of Maine (Orono, umaine.edu), University of Maine at Fort Kent (umfk.maine.edu), University of Maine at Presque Isle (umpi.maine.edu), and Univ. of Maine at Farmington (umf.maine.edu). These universities offer degrees in technical, business, and liberal arts subjects. Most campuses have dorms, although there are none in Augusta. The admission process is separate for each of these universities, despite being part of the University of Maine system; some are more difficult to become admitted to than others. They are generally more expensive than community colleges, but less than private colleges. Lewiston-Auburn College, which has a cafeteria but no dorms, offers some Univ. of Southern Maine courses. Western Maine University & Community College Center (South Paris) provides some University of ME. and CMCC courses.

PRIVATE COLLEGES: A number of private four-year colleges exist in central and southern Maine, including Bowdoin (Brunswick, bowdoin.edu), Colby (Waterville, colby.edu), Husson (Bangor, husson.edu), Thomas (Waterville, thomas.edu), Saint Joseph's (Standish, sjcme.edu), the University of New England (Biddeford/Portland, une.edu) and Bates (Lewiston, bates.edu). Thomas and Husson offer a wide variety of academic programs, while Colby, Bates (especially) and Bowdoin focus on liberal arts programs, with fewer technical or business courses. Many of these have dorms on campus. The cost of attending private colleges in this state varies significantly, but they are all more expensive than the public universities or community colleges.

SPECIALIZED: Several Maine colleges are focused on a particular area of study. These include the College of the Atlantic (Bar Harbor) and the Maine Maritime Academy (Castine, web site), among others. According to its web site, all College of the Atlantic students have a Human Ecology major. Art-oriented colleges include Heartwood College (Kennebunk, heartwoodcollegeofart.org) and the Maine College of Art (Portland, meca.edu). The New England School of Communications (web site) is in Bangor and on the Husson College campus; it offers courses in audio, video, radio broadcasting, journalism, and related subjects. Rockport College (Rockport, rockportcollege.edu) provides courses in photography, media, film, and video. The New England Bible College (Cape Elizabeth, nebc.edu) and Bangor Theological Seminary (Portland/Bangor, bts.edu) have religion-oriented academic programs.

Overall, the state of Maine offers a wide range of colleges and universities, with one or more of them suitable to just about any area of interest, level of academic qualification, housing preference, or income level.