State profile · ME
Maine
Maine has 21 degree-granting institutions in this data. Between them they award 232 research doctorates and 1,612 master’s degrees over the window, and take $116.6m in federal research and development money.
This page counts every institution in the state, including the ones that award no graduate degree at all. Leaving those out would make a state look like its flagship.
institutions in the state
4 award a research doctorate. 4 enrol no graduate students at all.
of research doctorates go to non-residents
79 of 232. National figure: 38.9%.
of graduate enrolment is non-resident
443 of 9,625 graduate students.
federal research and development money
Across 10 institutions. $126.2m in total federal obligations.
Where Maine sits
The non-resident share of research doctorates, against the same figure for the country. That is 4.8 points below the national figure of 38.9%. The pattern this site measures nationally is weaker here, not stronger.
Maine ranks 35 of 52 states on that share, and 51 of 56 on the number of research doctorates it awards. Rank 1 is the highest. Only states that award doctorates are ranked.
Undergraduate and graduate, side by side
The same institutions at two levels. Undergraduate is the remainder once graduate enrolment is taken out of the total, and both levels carry their own non-resident count. In Maine the graduate share is 1.9 points higher than the undergraduate share.
Click any column heading to sort. Click it again to reverse. The panel under the table narrows what is shown — everything is shown until you ask for less.
| Institution | Undergraduates | Non-res | Share | Graduates | Non-res | Share | State funding | Federal R&D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Maine | 9,267 | 212 | 2.3% | 2,493 | 369 | 14.8% | $120.8m | $198.9m |
| University of Southern Maine | 5,520 | 80 | 1.4% | 2,008 | 28 | 1.4% | $62.5m | $6.5m |
| University of New England | 3,863 | 8 | 0.2% | 2,610 | 30 | 1.1% | — | $8.1m |
| Unity Environmental University | 5,655 | 3 | 0.1% | 704 | 0 | 0.0% | — | — |
| University of Maine at Augusta | 4,250 | 27 | 0.6% | 73 | 5 | 6.8% | $25.6m | — |
| Husson University | 2,525 | 43 | 1.7% | 608 | 4 | 0.7% | — | — |
| Colby College | 2,284 | 252 | 11.0% | — | — | — | — | $4.5m |
| University of Maine at Presque Isle | 2,152 | 136 | 6.3% | 35 | 1 | 2.9% | $9.5m | — |
| University of Maine at Farmington | 1,605 | 4 | 0.2% | 345 | 0 | 0.0% | $16.0m | — |
| Bowdoin College | 1,850 | 129 | 7.0% | — | — | — | — | $3.4m |
| Bates College | 1,753 | 167 | 9.5% | — | — | — | — | $2.1m |
| Thomas College | 1,581 | 36 | 2.3% | 88 | 1 | 1.1% | — | — |
| Saint Joseph's College of Maine | 1,059 | 0 | 0.0% | 404 | 0 | 0.0% | — | — |
| University of Maine at Fort Kent | 1,357 | 71 | 5.2% | 49 | 1 | 2.0% | $9.2m | — |
| Maine Maritime Academy | 889 | 6 | 0.7% | 24 | 0 | 0.0% | $15.4m | — |
| Beal University | 512 | 1 | 0.2% | 8 | 0 | 0.0% | — | — |
| Maine College of Art & Design | 422 | 0 | 0.0% | 52 | 0 | 0.0% | — | — |
| College of the Atlantic | 360 | 77 | 21.4% | 7 | 1 | 14.3% | — | — |
| Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts | 0 | 0 | — | 93 | 3 | 3.2% | — | — |
| Maine Media College | 0 | 0 | — | 24 | 0 | 0.0% | — | — |
| University of Maine-System Central Office | 0 | 0 | — | — | — | — | $17.5m | — |
The two levels diverge most at University of Maine: 2.3% of its 9,267 undergraduates and 14.8% of its 2,493 graduate students. These are different admissions systems with different applicant pools, different money and different reasons to say yes, and a single state figure hides both.
1,252 of 46,904 undergraduates and 443 of 9,625 graduate students. IPEDS reports no graduate enrolment for 4 of these institutions; their rows show a dash rather than a zero, because the file not carrying a number is not the same as the number being none.
What the state figure is an average of
The largest graduate enrolments in Maine, each with its own non-resident share. Nothing here is excluded from the figures above. The point is to show what they are made of.
| Institution | Graduate students | Share of the state | Non-resident |
|---|---|---|---|
| University of New England | 2,610 | 27.1% | 1.1% |
| University of Maine | 2,493 | 25.9% | 14.8% |
| University of Southern Maine | 2,008 | 20.9% | 1.4% |
| Unity Environmental University | 704 | 7.3% | 0.0% |
| Husson University | 608 | 6.3% | 0.7% |
| Saint Joseph's College of Maine | 404 | 4.2% | 0.0% |
One institution is moving this figure
University of New England holds 27.1% of the graduate enrolment in Maine and is 1.1% non-resident. Take it out and the rest of the state is 5.9%, against 4.6% with it in. A state average is not a description of its universities when one of them is most of the state.
Practical training, and the other student visas
A student visa does not end at graduation. Optional Practical Training lets a graduate work on the same visa, and a STEM degree adds a further twenty-four months. It applies at both levels, so the undergraduate share above is not the end of the story.
No institution in Maine appears in SEVP’s published lists, which cover the top 100 and top 200 schools for OPT and STEM OPT. There is therefore no published practical training figure for this state. That is a fact about what the agency releases, not a statement that no one here is on OPT.
J-1 physicians. Maine is not in the published top twelve states for J-1 physicians in graduate medical education, which is the only state breakdown ECFMG publishes. That is an absence from a short list, not a zero.
In-state against out-of-state
Public four-year institutions, FY2024. Every foreign student pays the out-of-state rate, so this is the price attached to the non-resident column everywhere else on this page.
An out-of-state student in Maine is worth 3.06× an in-state one to the institution. They are 32.7% of the students and 59.8% of the tuition revenue.
| Measure | In-state | Out-of-state |
|---|---|---|
| Share of students (FTE) | 67.3% | 32.7% |
| Net tuition and fees collected per student | $5,845 | $17,903 |
| Share of tuition revenue | 40.2% | 59.8% |
Out-of-state is not the same as foreign. SHEEO counts international students and domestic students from other states in one column. This shows what a non-resident pays, never how many of them are foreign. Figures are net tuition and fee revenue per full-time-equivalent student — what the institution actually collected after its own aid, not the published price. Public four-year institutions only; medical FTE excluded.
Every institution
Largest first by total enrolment. A dash means the institution awards none of that degree, or that no federal research money was matched to it.
| Institution | City | Control | Enrolled | Graduate | Master’s | Non-res | Doctorates | Non-res | Federal R&D |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Maine | Orono | public | 11,760 | 2,493 | 704 | 142 | 375 | 120 | $198.9m |
| University of Southern Maine | Portland | public | 7,528 | 2,008 | 342 | 6 | 65 | 0 | $6.5m |
| University of New England | Biddeford | private nonprofit | 6,473 | 2,610 | 27 | 0 | 282 | 0 | $8.1m |
| Unity Environmental University | New Gloucester | private nonprofit | 6,359 | 704 | 366 | 0 | — | — | — |
| University of Maine at Augusta | Augusta | public | 4,323 | 73 | 31 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Husson University | Bangor | private nonprofit | 3,133 | 608 | 71 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Colby College | Waterville | private nonprofit | 2,284 | — | — | — | — | — | $4.5m |
| University of Maine at Presque Isle | Presque Isle | public | 2,187 | 35 | — | — | — | — | — |
| University of Maine at Farmington | Farmington | public | 1,950 | 345 | 48 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Bowdoin College | Brunswick | private nonprofit | 1,850 | — | — | — | — | — | $3.4m |
| Bates College | Lewiston | private nonprofit | 1,753 | — | — | — | — | — | $2.1m |
| Thomas College | Waterville | private nonprofit | 1,669 | 88 | 19 | 0 | — | — | — |
| Saint Joseph's College of Maine | Standish | private nonprofit | 1,463 | 404 | 4 | 0 | — | — | — |
| University of Maine at Fort Kent | Fort Kent | public | 1,406 | 49 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Maine Maritime Academy | Castine | public | 913 | 24 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Beal University | Bangor | private for-profit | 520 | 8 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Maine College of Art & Design | Portland | private nonprofit | 474 | 52 | — | — | — | — | — |
| College of the Atlantic | Bar Harbor | private nonprofit | 367 | 7 | — | — | — | — | — |
| Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts | Portland | private nonprofit | 93 | 93 | — | — | 52 | 0 | — |
| Maine Media College | Rockport | private nonprofit | 24 | 24 | — | — | — | — | — |
| University of Maine-System Central Office | Orono | public | 0 | — | — | — | — | — | — |
Degrees are pooled over 2021–2025. Enrolment and federal money are the most recent year in the file. “Non-res” means a student here on a temporary visa, almost always F-1 or J-1. A green card holder is not counted in it.
How few institutions this is
Of the 21 institutions in Maine, 4 award a research doctorate at all, and the largest two award 84.9% of them. A state’s graduate pipeline is a much smaller thing than its list of colleges.
| Institution | Research doctorates | Non-resident | Share | Share of the state’s doctorates |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Maine | 375 | 120 | 32.0% | 48.4% |
| University of New England | 282 | 0 | 0.0% | 36.4% |
| University of Southern Maine | 65 | 0 | 0.0% | 8.4% |
| Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts | 52 | 0 | 0.0% | 6.7% |
The foreign share of graduate students, where the survey reaches
The NSF Survey of Graduate Students and Postdoctorates asks institutions directly, and it covers 3 of the 21 institutions in Maine. It is a different measure from the degree counts above: enrolled students rather than degrees awarded.
| Institution | Doctoral students foreign | Master’s students foreign |
|---|---|---|
| University of Maine | 40.7% | 23.0% |
| University of Southern Maine | —% | 0.0% |
| University of New England | —% | 0.0% |
University of Maine
The highest foreign share of doctoral students in the state, at 40.7%. It is not the largest institution here and it is not the one with the most federal money. Size and share are different questions, and a state page that ranked only by size would not show this.
What the state itself puts in
State appropriations per full-time-equivalent student, from the SHEEO finance survey, against the change in the foreign share of graduate enrolment over the same window.
| Measure | First year | Last year | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| State appropriations per FTE student | $8,955 | $11,050 | +23.4% |
| Foreign share of graduate enrolment | 4.2% | 8.0% | +3.9 pts |
These two rows move for their own reasons. Nothing here shows that one caused the other, and the page does not say it did.
What is not published for a state this size
Two of the measures this site uses elsewhere do not exist at this scale, and the reason is the same in both cases: the agency publishes a ranked extract rather than the whole file.
- Practical training is not published here. SEVP releases the top 100 and top 200 schools for OPT and STEM OPT, not every school. An institution outside those lists has no published figure at all. Its absence is a fact about the list, not about the institution, and it must never be read as a zero.
- Student visa counts are not published by state. DHS reports SEVIS records nationally and names a few states per region in its commentary. For most states it publishes a percentage change and no count, so the number of foreign students physically in a state cannot be read off the federal release.
- Enrolment is the measure that does exist. IPEDS asks every institution directly, which is why this page is built from it. It counts students enrolled, not visas issued, and the two are different questions.
Method and limits
- Non-resident means here on a temporary visa. IPEDS defines it as a person “who is not a citizen or national of the United States and who is in this country on a visa or temporary basis and does not have the right to remain indefinitely.” A green card holder is therefore never counted here. Neither is a refugee or an asylee. Those students are reported in the race and ethnicity categories alongside citizens. For students the category is overwhelmingly F-1 and J-1.
- It is not ethnicity and not country of origin. A US-born citizen of any background is never non-resident. The status is recorded when the student enrols, for the enrolment figures, and when the degree is awarded, for the degree counts. These files cannot be split any other way.
- Degrees are pooled over 2021–2025, because a single year at a small institution moves on one student.
- Enrolment and awards are different measures and will not agree. One counts people on a given day; the other counts degrees conferred over five years.
- Federal money is matched to a campus, and a system that reports centrally can carry money its branches spend.
- This page shows composition, not displacement. It records who received the degrees. It does not show that anyone was kept out, and nothing here should be read that way.
Built by scripts/build_state_pages.py from
institution_profiles.json,
state_funding_and_enrolment.json
and university_distribution.json.
Compare the country on the national overview.