Message from the Chair

Completing a college degree is a fundamental right and responsibility of all Maine people.

Sound radical?

So did the idea of a right to elementary or high school at one time - before those credentials became minimum requirements for American freedom and prosperity.

Today, Maine residents face a world in which knowledge is multiplying at an unfathomable rate. This knowledge revolution is transforming the workplace. If the recent past is a guide, many of tomorrow's jobs are beyond our imaginations today. (Ten years ago, who would have envisioned a life as a Web Developer?)

Meanwhile, the decent manufacturing jobs once available to a Maine worker with a high school diploma and a good work ethic are disappearing.

A college degree is fast becoming the new minimum credential in the Maine workplace. In a similar vein, a college-educated workforce is now the minimum requirement for our state's economic and civic well-being.

With this changing environment as a backdrop, thirty-three extraordinarily dedicated Maine leaders have devoted their time and energy to develop an ambitious Action Plan aimed at significantly increasing Maine's supply of college-educated people.

This report is the first result of the hard work, diligent research and productive collaboration of the Maine Compact for Higher Education.