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Kirsten Petroska is a PhD student in the Leadership Program at the University of Southern Maine and a higher education professional at the University of Maine at Farmington. This column reflects her views and expertise and does not speak on behalf of the university. She is a member of the Maine chapter of the national Scholars Strategy Network, which brings together scholars across the country to address public challenges and their policy implications. Members’ columns appear in the Bangor Daily News every other week.
The higher education landscape is changing.
The population of “typical” college students — 18- to 22-year-olds who live on or very near their campus — is dwindling in Maine. Additionally, post-pandemic, there are expectations that students are able to attend at least some of their classes online, with a growing preference for online courses.
What’s more, while our traditionally aged college student population is shrinking, we have no shortage of adults who would benefit from some kind of post-secondary education. Online courses provide the much-needed flexibility that working adults need in order to achieve the next steps in their personal and career goals.
Universities that are pulling on-the-ground resources and focusing on providing more or improved services online are likely making the best economical choice considering the needs of current and prospective students and trends within higher education (see Unity Environmental University’s choice to go almost entirely online).
It is important to remember, however, that community supports like the Hutchinson Center and the Houlton Education Center are more than places to dump students for classes or warehouses for administrative staff; they are connectors and facilitators for learning communities. Additionally, they are often a soft place to land for nontraditional college students (often working adults with families) who might feel some apprehension when returning to school.
I saw this in my work in adult education. Easy access to a University of Maine at Augusta satellite campus facilitated a number of successful warm hand-offs with newly minted high school graduates. Even if students weren’t taking courses in the facility, there was a sense of reassurance that real people could be found who could help them with technical issues, course selection, or simply give them a quiet place to study.
However, even if the University of Maine System was not closing satellite campuses and learning centers, even if it were opening more, we could not create an accessible learning center for all. Maine is a rural state with limited public transportation, and many lack reliable vehicles and resources to commute. Online classes are just more accessible, even with Maine’s sometimes sparse connectivity.
As higher education reconfigures, we now need to consider what the new gaps are for our students and how we might best fill them with the resources we do have. What will students always need? Connection with their professors and peers, staff and administrators who see them as people and not numbers, flexibility and understanding about life circumstances, and educational opportunities that spark their curiosity and creativity.
I’ve been a student and now an employee of the University of Maine System long enough to know we have the brain power to meet these needs regardless of the modality. Change is happening across higher education and we can choose to be consumed by the discomfort and grief that comes with that, or we can focus on why we, higher education professionals, are here in the first place: to meet the needs of our students and to meet that challenge regardless of whether it’s face to face or through a screen.