The University of Maine went fishing for students out west for the second year of its flashy tuition-matching program targeting new first-year students from out of state.
It won a small number of additional commitments from far-flung Illinois and California. But the efforts didn’t yield nearly the number of student commitments that the program continues to attract from nearby states, which are tuition-matching targets for the second straight year. The program’s growth rate has slowed for those closer-to-home states but still represents a significant boost for a cold-weather locale facing sharp declines in the number of expected high school graduates in coming years.
The university's much-touted Flagship Match program might not be able to expand exponentially into the future. But data from its second year suggest it might create lasting gains in enrollment -- from nearby New England states, at the very least. It's a success driven by simplicity, according to Jeffrey Hecker, provost of the University of Maine in Orono.
Read more at Inside Higher Ed: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/05/11/university-maine-sees-slower-growth-second-year-flagship-match-program