Ranked, compared, and filtered by real data: costs, outcomes, and admissions
Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby, the small liberal arts colleges of Maine, carry reputations that far exceed what the state's population might predict, placing graduates at top graduate programs and employers at rates that put them alongside much larger and better-known institutions.
The University of Maine system serves the practical educational needs of a geographically dispersed state, and its Orono campus has built real research depth in forestry, marine sciences, and engineering tied to the region's natural resources.
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See how Maine's colleges compare to the national average on the four measures most students and families weigh when deciding where to go: cost, acceptance rates, graduate earnings, and graduation rates.
The colleges in Maine that rank highest by UCD Score, and those that deliver above-national graduate earnings at a below-average net price, two of the strongest signals when choosing a school.
Not every student is looking for the same thing. These six panels rank Maine's colleges by the data that matters most for each path.
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by annual graduates
Ranked by net price
Ranked by enrollment
Ranked by grad earnings
Which colleges give you the most for what you spend? These eight schools rank highest in Maine by the ratio of 10-year graduate earnings to annual net price.
| # | College | Net Price / yr | Earnings (10yr) | Ratio | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kennebec Valley Community College Fairfield | $3,910 | $36,035 | 9.2× | Excellent |
| 2 | York County Community College Wells | $5,875 | $44,873 | 7.6× | Excellent |
| 3 | University of Maine at Fort Kent Fort Kent | $7,482 | $51,077 | 6.8× | Excellent |
| 4 | Washington County Community College Calais | $5,149 | $34,407 | 6.7× | Excellent |
| 5 | Central Maine Community College Auburn | $6,975 | $42,448 | 6.1× | Excellent |
| 6 | Northern Maine Community College Presque Isle | $7,181 | $43,348 | 6.0× | Excellent |
| 7 | University of Maine at Presque Isle Presque Isle | $7,035 | $40,956 | 5.8× | Excellent |
| 8 | Bowdoin College Brunswick | $14,398 | $82,735 | 5.8× | Excellent |
ROI Ratio = median earnings 10 years after enrollment ÷ annual net price. Higher is better.
The six fields of study with the most annual graduates across all colleges in Maine, based on IPEDS completion data.
The specific degree programs producing the most graduates across Maine's colleges. A more granular view than the Popular Majors above, useful when you already know roughly what you want to study and want to see where the volume is.
The cities in Maine with the most colleges, ranked by number of institutions.
Utah crowds 14,137 students into each of its colleges, four times the national norm. These are the states where college options are scarcest per student.
There are 170 colleges that operate a medical school, and they cluster hard. Texas leads with 14, three states hold a fifth of them, and four states have none.
Northeast college graduates earn about $12,700 more a decade out than Southern ones, but they also pay thousands more to get there. The regional split, by the numbers.
Browse our full directory: every college, major, program, and career we track, all built from verified government data.
Scout uses AI and can make mistakes. Verify important numbers on the page.
