Abstract:
The purpose of this survey was to document the access Pell Grants provided for students attending Maine's community colleges in both the Fall 2012 and Spring 2013 semesters, both of which are represented in the totals. The survey instrument was developed by Frank Mensel, who has provided leadership for similar studies conducted by the Education Policy Center in recent years (this study of Maine is the 19th study of Pell Grants conducted by the Center since 2011). Data collection in Maine was conducted by Dr. William Warren, Academic Vice President Emeritus at Southern Maine Community College, who succeeded in gathering survey returns from all seven colleges in the system.
This study of Maine reconfirms previous EPC findings that Pell Grants are the wellspring of college access in rural America. That claim - that Pell Grants are rural America’s most important human resource development program – has been branded as hyperbole by some, but was confirmed by prior EPC sur- veys of Iowa (2011; found at: http://www.uaedpolicy.ua.edu/pell.html), Kansas (2012; found at: http://www.uaedpolicy.ua.edu/pell.html), and our three-state study of community colleges in Alabama, Arkansas, and Louisiana (2013; found at: http://www.uaedpolicy.ua.edu/pell.html). Data from these studies have been presented on behalf of the Rural Community College Alliance at the U.S. Department of Education (2011, 2012 and 2013), the White House (2012 and 2013), and on Capitol Hill (2013). This study pushes these claims a notch higher.
Description:
This material was published September, 2013, by the Education Policy Center at The University of Alabama.
