Boston Globe speaks with Provost Hecker about Flagship Match
The Boston Globe spoke with Jeffrey Hecker, executive vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Maine, for an article about UMaine’s Flagship Match tuition scholarship program and out-of-state recruiting efforts. UMaine officials launched an ambitious recruiting effort — including the use of strategic highway billboards — three years ago to draw students north to Orono, the article states. Under the Flagship Match program, UMaine offers scholarships that reduce the tuition for out-of-state students in targeted states to what they would pay if they attended their own state’s flagship public university instead, Boston Globe reported. Hecker said Flagship Match is the main reason the school saw record first-year enrollments in 2016 and 2017. Nearly half of this fall’s nearly 2,300 first-year students hail from out of state, with Massachusetts leading the way, according to the article. Hecker said the local reaction has been positive in part because of the help it provides employers.