The University of Maine at Presque Isle Is Innovating Education

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Mandy Pooler graduated in the top five of the Caribou High School class of 2005 with a goal to study architecture, but without financial means to attend a four-year university. Instead, she enrolled at Northern Maine Community College, where she earned an associate’s degree in drafting. After a few years working for an engineering firm, Pooler was accepted into a college business program, but finances again prevented her from attending. Then Pooler heard about the University of Maine at Presque Isle’s competency-based YourPace program. She enrolled and earned her bachelor’s degree in business administration, all online, in just three years. “If it wasn’t for this program, I would probably still be in college to this day,” she says.

UMPI launched YourPace in 2017 with an undergraduate business degree. The program now includes 10 undergraduate degree programs, two graduate programs, and three certification or non-degree programs, and more education pathways are added each year. YourPace runs in eight-week sessions with flat-rate tuition, no fixed deadlines, and no limit to how many courses a student can take each term. “At the time, this flexibility was just emerging at some other institutions nationally,” Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost Alana Margeson says. “UMPI leadership thought, why not us? We have tremendously gifted, talented, and dedicated faculty, and as a smaller institution, one of the things that we’ve done well consistently is applying flexible thinking in how we innovate to meet our students’ needs.”

The timing of the YourPace launch was fortuitous. When the pandemic hit, people started looking for flexible and affordable ways to pursue continued learning, and YourPace enrollment surged. It has continued to double enrollment year over year, attracting students from six continents. “The program allows you to do the classwork at your own pace,” Pooler says. “For me, as a working mom, I would work on some school assignments before work or during my lunch break, and then nights and weekends were really critical for me.”

Ethan Whitty, graduate of the University of Maine at Presque Isle's YourPace program — *Photo courtesy of Ethan Whitty*

All students are assigned advisors and success coaches who regularly check in with them and discuss their course load to keep them on track toward degree completion. “It is wonderful for students to have autonomy and flexibility, and it is equally important to mindfully design a series of check-ins with them,” Margeson says. “Across modalities, we want to make sure our students know we’re here for them to make sure that they are successful.”

Traditional UMPI student Ethan Whitty felt the same support when he applied to work in the Disney College Program in Orlando as a senior business manager. Whitty planned to take a leave of absence, but learned he could continue his education in Florida and graduate with his friends in 2026. “I’m very fortunate to be in a program where all the courses are either online or high flex, meaning that I am able to Zoom in to live classes even if I’m 1,600 miles away,” Whitty says. “That flexibility is something you don’t get everywhere.”

For Margeson, student success stories reinforce why she was attracted to UMPI first as an undergraduate and later as a faculty member. “As a student, I felt supported, but also challenged,” she says. “Today, we’re still excited about and invested in providing high quality and meaningful educational opportunities for all, no matter the modality.”