Good News for Adult Learners

Maine has good jobs in growing industries, but not everyone has the education they need to pursue their dream: About 200,000 residents with some college or training have stalled their studies because of financial or family hurdles.

MaineCF is working to lower those barriers through its work with donors and partners in the MaineSpark coalition. In 2018 we awarded about $268,000 in grants to 155 adult students who are back in school. This spring we combined our separate scholarship funds into a single Adult Learner Scholarship that will make about $400,000 available to students through one application.

“We’ve learned over the years of doing this work that one of the biggest barriers to adult students is the complexity of returning to and paying for school,” says Cherie Galyean, MaineCF’s director of educational initiatives. “By uniting all of these funds under one application umbrella, we can help make our piece of the process easier and more accessible.”

The new Adult Learner Scholarship pool includes the Adult College Completion Fund, James and Marilyn Rockefeller Fund, Thomas E. and Beulah Long Musgrave Fund, Bruce Scholarship Fund, William Bingham II Fund for Adult Learners, and the Henry L.P. Schmelzer College Transitions Scholarship Fund.

Read more about the Adult Learner Scholarship at www.mainecf.org. If you’d like to know how you can help support adult learners, please contact Cherie Galyean at cgalyean@mainecf.org.

Photo: An adult learner scholarship from MaineCF helped Gail Hackelberg complete her studies and graduate in May from Eastern Maine Community College in Bangor with an associate degree in nursing. Photo Ashley L. Conti