PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — There’s going to be a ripple effect through the Maine economy as colleges decide whether to reopen this fall.
A report issued in June by the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston found that Maine leads the region in terms of the number of municipalities that are heavily dependent on colleges and universities for their local economies.
All told, 19 of the 57 New England communities that are highly dependent on a college or university for employment are in Maine, the Portland Press Herald reported. In Penobscot County, home to the University of Maine in Orono, for example, more than 10 percent of the local jobs were in higher education as of 2018.
The University of Maine System and Bates College in Lewiston are reopening campuses this fall, but Unity College and Bowdoin College plan to stick with remote learning.
