FARMINGTON — As soon as their high school diploma is in hand, many graduates are ready and eager to jump right into college. Whether it is to pursue their career or just to sink themselves into college life, young adults across the county have a plan in mind.

And then life happens.

University of Maine Farmington recognizes that for many adults, plans change and what was supposed to be a break from school turned into years — some even decades. Its revamped Degree Completion Program hopes to make it painless and easy. The program is designed to help individuals who have earned some college credits finish their bachelor’s degree at their own speed and convenience in a way that is uniquely tailored to their situation.

“Farmington created this Degree Completion Program to help adults complete their bachelor’s degree, meet their career goals and achieve the full potential of their education,” Joseph McDonnell, UMF president, said in a news release. “Farmington is expanding its offerings to serve not only traditional aged students, but adults of all ages and not only teaching in the classroom but online as well.”

The UMF program is enrolling students for fall 2023, but it is not as new as it may seem. According to UMF Associate Dean for Graduate and Continuing Education Erin Connor, the new program is a fresh take on some existing programs.

“It’s new in the sense that we are looking at what we offer, and trying to think about how we can redevelop it for a different audience,” Connor said.

“There’s a population of folks who started college and for one reason or another, walked away from it,” she said. “Either it was because of a life circumstance or because there was a different option for them, but they’re out there with some college credit, either from one of the sister campuses, or one of the private institutions.

“But that credit just sort of lingers there on a transcript and doesn’t help them,” she said. “So we know that there’s this audience out there that needs to turn that experience into a degree. And so we’re looking at what we offer and what we’re good at, and trying to think about how can we recast that for that audience.”

The program will provide returning students with an academic adviser who will help them create a personalized degree completion plan, transfer credits from previous course work and identify possible work and life experience that can be applied for credit for prior learning.

Credit for prior learning is a formal way of assessing either training that someone has done or sometimes just their professional work experience and assessing it against a syllabus, a course or program and saying, ‘Yes, this will count for credit for this particular class.’

Courses will be offered online, hybrid, as evening or Saturday classes. The goal of the program is to be flexible to suit a student’s preference or choice of academic program. Courses may be offered in full semester or eight-week terms that will start multiple times during the year at the end of August, October, January, March and June. Staff will be available to help with support after hours on weeknights.

Connor credits Ashley Montgomery, assistant dean at UMF for establishing the roots of the program. In 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Montgomery began reaching out to students who had completed courses and were only a few units away from graduation.

“She called them ‘The Almost Alumni’,” Connor said. “I would say that Ashley was the person who in many ways was the face and the heart of getting this started.”

UMF senior Mikayla Deschaine said Farmington and the people there proved that returning to school is not only possible, it is within reach. Submitted Photo

One example of the practical application of this program comes from Mikayla Deschaine from Presque Isle. Deschaine learned about the online degree completion program in rehabilitation and human services at UMF from a colleague and is now working on finishing her degree.

A mother of two small children, Deschaine stepped away from her college education with the thought of completing her degree in time. After receiving her associate degree from Northern Maine Community College, she began working full time for the Aroostook County Action Program in Presque Isle. Her work in assisting clients with housing instability inspired her to reach out to UMF in the hopes of advancing in her profession and completing her degree.

“My biggest fear was never being able to go back to school,” Deschaine said, “but Farmington and the people there proved to me, it is not only possible, it is within reach. My Farmington adviser was warm, knowledgeable and provided me with the resources I needed to help me be successful.”

She enrolled at Farmington in August 2022 and will receive her bachelor’s degree in 2024.

“A wonderful aspect of the Farmington Degree Completion Program is that the faculty believe in you. My professors were always checking in with me. My remote classes started with a welcome-to-class message, a copy of the syllabus and a list of items I would need. Each week, I could access a list of assignments and a review of expectations,” she said.

“I love Farmington,” she said. “It has helped me be a more confident adult and has shown me that even a parent working full time with two small children can find a few hours at night and on weekends to devote to achieving their career goals.”

For more information on the program, visit www.umf.maine.edu/degree-completion/ or contact Connor at erin.l.connor@maine.edu or 207-778-7186.