At a more than five-hour May meeting, Maine Maritime Academy’s board of trustees discussed how the school’s four-year graduation rate had plummeted to 34% — and how to raise it while facing long-lasting educational fallout from the pandemic.
More than two months later, the maritime training school has given a notably higher figure to the Bangor Daily News: Instead, 58.6% of students who enrolled as freshmen in the fall of 2019 had graduated within four years, much closer to the retention rates of other four-year, public Maine colleges.
“Retention rates have been identified by the Academy’s leadership as a priority, and plans are being implemented to improve outcomes,” spokesperson Michael Dickerson said. “The administration is still in the early phases of carrying out their strategy, and I anticipate these efforts to take some time to have measurable results.”
The academy attributed the revised information to an “unfortunate quantitative error in the calculation.” Dickerson said he did not know what error caused the earlier inaccuracy, declining an interview request until “a later time” but providing a statement.
The change indicates a more positive picture for the Castine school, though MMA still wants to see the numbers rise. Graduation rates there have additional significance because MMA is one of six schools in the country training merchant mariners, a profession in serious and increasing need of more workers for international trade and national security.
Students who started at MMA in 2019 had their college years interrupted by the pandemic, and staff in May also described increasing mental health challenges and educational gaps that most expected to linger for years. Adjusting to rural Castine was another potential issue identified for student life.
Officials said then that their goal was for at least 70% to graduate within six years, a number the school last achieved with students who started as freshmen there in 2015.
Statewide, 61.1% of students who started college in 2019 graduated in six years, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, close to 10% below the national average for four-year public institutions.
Maine graduation rates stayed fairly steady between 2008 and 2019 freshman classes, without a steep pandemic crash, Clearinghouse data shows.
MMA is unique among schools in Maine for its focus on maritime education, primarily preparing students for licensing to work on commercial ships.
Its geographically closest educational likeness is Massachusetts Maritime Academy, where 63% of students who were freshmen in fall 2018 graduated in four years, and almost three-quarters graduated in six years, according to that school’s latest public data.
When MMA’s long-awaited, high-end new student training ship tied up in Castine for the first time last week, president Craig Johnson said it’s an exciting time to be a student there with even more upgrades to facilities and teaching resources ahead.
Asked about retention efforts, he said the academy has hired a new student success manager, added summer programs focused on science, technology, engineering and math, and works to catch student challenges.
Graduation rates have also historically been higher for students in the academy’s structured regiment and more advanced licensing program. He shared an 80% retention goal.
Johnson touted the school’s high return on investment for students– one of the highest in the country, according to numerous analyses in recent years – and said most have several job offers of $120,000 or more to choose from at graduation.
“So I think the big question always in a parent’s mind is, ‘Is it worth it?’” Johnson said. “And the answer’s easy. It absolutely is.”
