The New Face Of USM

Tuition hikes, more online courses, program elimination and new majors.
The good and the bad, they're both part of *new* University of Southern Maine.
The university says it can not financially sustain itself into the future without reinventing itself.
That means the school is looking at eliminating some smaller, sparsely enrolled programs in favor of three or four new signature programs that are attractive to a large number of students.
It's an approach the school calls organizational streamlining, saying the change is necessary in order to bring in more students which means more tuition.
USM says between decreased enrollment and expected state funding cuts next year it will face nearly a three million dollar budget shortfall.
In short, the school says it needs more students to fill the gaps, saying it has beefed up its recruiting and is even launching a new television ad campaign in an effort to increase enrollment.
As for tuition hikes, the university says if it needs to additional funding, it could raise the cost to enroll at USM by no more than six percent.
The New Face Of USM

Posted: Friday, November 6 2009, 07:20 PM EST