There has been a lot of conversation this week regarding several announcements made on Monday, August 3rd. I wanted to take a moment to reach out to you and offer some clarification, as well as information about Unity College’s Path Forward.

Unity College announced in June that the 2020-21 year would be taught through remote learning due to COVID-19. On Monday, August 3rd, it was announced that the College is implementing a new calendar with the Hybrid Learning model, while permanently breaking away from the traditional 2-semester model. It was also announced that the College will consider selling any assets that are not financially viable in the future, including but not limited to, the main campus. It is still the plan to bring students back to campus for face-to-face instruction, post-COVID concerns, and as long as enrollment dictates that students want that experience.

To put your initial concern to rest, this announcement is in no way saying that Unity College is closing, or going to a fully online format, or that the main campus is definitely going to be sold.

To give you a little background on the current state of higher education, as the birthrate has slowed dramatically over the last couple of decades, there is a shrinking population of students graduating high school and looking to go to college. However, the number of colleges recruiting students continues to increase. There are an increasing number of colleges fighting to recruit a shrinking number of college-age students. Furthermore, this shrinking number of college-age students are questioning their higher education options as they are place-bound or want to be able to work or pursue internships while they attend school. They are also highly concerned about affordability and are unwilling to take out the loans that previous generations of college students did to cover costs. As a small, private college with a small endowment we cannot compete on price when compared to larger private and state institutions, so we must compete on value and options.

Unity College, as you know, prides itself on experiential learning and Hybrid Learning allows us to offer face-to-face courses anywhere in Maine, the country, or the world for that matter including our main campus if that’s what student demand dictates. This means we can bring students directly to the source of the subject they’re learning about, whether it be studying the ecology of Acadia National Park, climate change in Alaska, sustainable food supply in Austin, or anything in between. We can leverage partnerships across the state and the country to bring students to organizations where they can learn and work alongside professionals in their field.

I would also like to touch on the intentional decision to broaden our student audience to include more than the traditional college-age students. This emerging group of students are often referred to as “non-traditional” students, who do not have to ability to put their lives on hold for 4 years to attend a traditional four-year residential program. Hybrid Learning allows students the flexibility to choose remote or in-person courses based on their needs, with shorter 5-week terms, at a level of affordability that is more accessible to students from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds. If students are looking for a residential experience here at 90 Quaker Hill Rd, we are offering that as an option. However, there has to be enough students interested in that model in order for the main campus to be financially viable, and if that is not the case going forward, we have the ability to explore selling the main campus or any of our other properties that are not financially viable in the future. For the 2020-21 year for example, we are projecting a 33% decline in the enrollment of our traditional residential model, however our Distance Education program has grown significantly. This is just one of the many data points and national trends that indicate the change in who college students are and what they’re looking for.

While the future of Unity College will look different than the experience you had, students will continue to have the individualized attention and even more exciting hands-on learning opportunities as part of their education at a lower cost and could very well include the use of the main campus. I understand Unity College has changed since you’ve graduated, however I hope this message helps to clarify how this decision not only keeps Unity College open among a quickly changing higher education landscape when similar colleges are being forced to close, but also ensures current and future Unity College students from all walks of life can experience a high-quality, affordable, flexible, education that fits their needs.

Please see the press release, FAQs, and letter from the President for more information.
Please also see this Inside Higher Ed article and this piece from MaineBiz.

In Unity,
Dr. Melik Peter Khoury
President