UMaine Offering Tuition for Mass. Students at UMass Prices

Image via Boston Public Library on Flickr/Creative Commons

The University of Maine is drastically cutting tuition for out-of-state students in the Northeast, in an effort to spark some interest in the state’s flagship school.

As part of its Flagship Match Program, qualifying students from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania would be able to attend UMaine and pay the same tuition and fees as their flagship state school back home. Students from outside those six states would receive “significant and competitive grant” that would offset the cost for a non-resident to attend UMaine.

A student from Massachusetts will be able attend UMaine for $14,141, the in-state price charged at UMass Amherst, rather than UMaine’s out-of-state rate of $28,880. Similarly, a student from New Jersey will be able to attend UMaine for $14,000, the in-state price at Rutgers.

More Massachusetts students attend University of New Hampshire–Durham than any other out-of-state school, according to 2013 data from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Rounding out the top five is the University of Rhode Island, University of Vermont and State Agricultural College, Johnson & Wales University, and Roger Williams University.

UMaine placed 11th, with 22o members of Massachusetts’ Class of 2013 packing their bags for scenic Orono—the least of New England’s state school. To reverse the trend, the Globe reports UMaine is advertising the Flagship Match Program on billboards along I-93 in Methuen and I-95 in Peabody, while reaching out to high school guidance counselors across the Bay State.