SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine (AP) More students are enrolling in Maine’s community colleges this fall.

Preliminary figures indicate from September indicate there’s a 6.3 percent increase in enrolled students compared to the same time last year.

All seven campuses have seen increases including Eastern Maine Community College, which is up 10.4 percent, and Southern Maine Community College, which is up 8.2 percent.

Officials say the increased enrollment is in contrast to a years long trend nationwide of declining enrollments at two-year public colleges.

Officials say there’s been a greater effort to reach out to prospective students with more high school visits, one-on-one orientation sessions, and new programming. The system also ditched email in favor of texts to communicate with prospective students.