UMPI Work History and Age Policy

[dhallfootball21]

Just spoke to an UMPI representative and I was told you could not enroll without 2 years post high school work experience. I graduated high school last May 2020 and by the start of the next semester at UMPI I will have completed 90+ hours. I also have two years work experience. I feel like it downright discriminatory to not allow me to enroll because of my age. If I have to take 30 hours from UMPI and I have 90 transfer hours I cannot believe there is not an exception that exists that allows senior transfer students to complete the program. I personally advise anyone in a similar situation to beware of this university as they will discriminate against you as an applicant based on your age and work history. Must be a Maine thing....

[monchevy]

Many schools have programs that don't apply to everyone, or are just targeted to a different cohort. As a "mature" student, I can't get the sweet deals of cheap "dual enrollment" credits, for instance.

[ss20ts]

Just spoke to an UMPI representative and I was told you could not enroll without 2 years post high school work experience. I graduated high school last May 2020 and by the start of the next semester at UMPI I will have completed 90+ hours. I also have two years work experience. I feel like it downright discriminatory to not allow me to enroll because of my age. If I have to take 30 hours from UMPI and I have 90 transfer hours I cannot believe there is not an exception that exists that allows senior transfer students to complete the program. I personally advise anyone in a similar situation to beware of this university as they will discriminate against you as an applicant based on your age and work history. Must be a Maine thing....

No it's not a Maine or discriminatory thing. The YourPace program was designed for adults (not college age adults) to earn their degree to help them with their careers. You'll see that the BIG 3 and WGU have similar policies. You're free to apply to UMPI - the on campus program. YourPace is designed for working adults. By adults these programs mean those who are over college age. The work experience is typically a full time job.

[monchevy]

You can enroll at UMPI. You just can't enroll in the YourPace program because you don't meet the admissions requirements.

[natshar]

You know what else is "age discrimination?" How many scholarships are available to students your age. Just look around and you will see the majority of the scholarships are only for HS students or students right out of HS. Many Universities give automatic scholarships based on grades to students who are direct or one year out of HS. There just isn't the same opportunity for adult students. Additionally, many programs which require in-person courses or labs aren't super flexible to the working adult. As a younger student, you have a lot of opportunities that adult students might not.

At the B&M college I go to, they have a couple of degree completion programs: BA in Liberal Studies, BA in Individualized Studies and I think something else. Anyways in order to do such programs, you must be at least 21 years old. This is commonplace at many Universities not just online ones.

Programs like TESU, EC, WGU, UMPI are designed for the working adult to get a degree quickly. That is not to say 18-year-olds aren't in their programs, but it is not who it is designed for. I think UMPI's policy is the same reason TESU has its age requirement: to maintain the integrity of the program and so their programs better serve who they were designed to serve.


I never understood the idea of 18-year-old rushing through their degree in a year or two. From my own personal life, the people I know who graduated college early, are in no better place than the ones who took the full 4 years. Life is about the journey, not the destination. I am not saying that graduating college quickly is a bad idea by any means. But just think through it and make sure it is the right choice for you. Think about the career path and the degree you want to go with it. Also once you get your first bachelor's you aren't eligible for most financial aid. So for example, if you want to go into the engineering field, it is better to get your bachelor's in engineering and take longer to do so than just to speed through a generic Bachelors's of Liberal Studies. But I don't know your career plans, so maybe that logic won't apply to you.

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Out of curiosity, I'm wondering what your plans are for your degree/career?

[dhallfootball21]

There should not be seperate undergraduate admissions policies to confer the exact same degrees with the same curriculum. Admissions restrictions based on age, race, sexual orientation, or religion are inherently unfair. Why is ok for a certain portion of the student body to have access to an easier route to the same degrees than the rest of the student body? Im 19 years old and I work full time 40 hours a week. There is no difference between you or I as a student besides our year of birth. There are no programs at TESU that are restricted by age. If a program is available it should be accessible to all students equally.

[natshar]

There should not be seperate undergraduate admissions policies to confer the exact same degrees with the same curriculum. Admissions restrictions based on age, race, sexual orientation, or religion are inherently unfair. Why is ok for a certain portion of the student body to have access to an easier route to the same degrees than the rest of the student body? Im 19 years old and I work full time 40 hours a week. There is no difference between you or I as a student besides our year of birth. There are no programs at TESU that are restricted by age. If a program is available it should be accessible to all students equally.

Most colleges already target students 18-22 years old whether they try to or not. Some it kind of makes sense to have a few programs specifically targeted at older students.

Technically there are no programs at TESU restricted by age, but they make it more difficult if you are under 21 by having to fill out an age waiver and take a placement test or have RA credit. Also a few years ago, TESU used to make exceptions for students under 18 as well. Now you must be 18 and they don't make exceptions to that rule at all. After all their motto is "education for adults."

You are young you have time to figure things out. If you like the competency-based model, check out WGU or Brandman. And like I said in a prior post, consider your career plans; seems silly to get a liberal studies degree at 19 just because you can. Especially, if your career ambitions or opportunities are bigger than that.

[innen_oda]

You know what else is "age discrimination?" How many scholarships are available to students your age. Just look around and you will see the majority of the scholarships are only for HS students or students right out of HS. Many Universities give automatic scholarships based on grades to students who are direct or one year out of HS. There just isn't the same opportunity for adult students.

This is a great point. Nothing like seeing listings of thousands of scholarships on offer, only to find that approximately four are open to your age group.

Really, like 95% of university programmes are devoted to the 18-22 age group, and this guy is complaining because he can't also get access to the remaining 5%? Honestly.

Life is about the journey, not the destination.

Nailed it.

[dhallfootball21]

95% of all for profit colleges exist only to milk as much tuition out of the student body as possible. Take out 40k in loans for an undergraduate degree and pay it off for the next 30 years. No thanks. Age, race, religion, or sexual preference should have nothing to do with being admitted to a college program.

"Really, like 95% of university programmes are devoted to the 18-22 age group, and this guy is complaining because he can't also get access to the remaining 5%? Honestly."

This is about educational cost and I don't see why two students can take the exact same course load (12 hours) of undergraduate courses its ok to charge one demographic $1200 (20 years and over) and another $4800 (20 years or younger). Or how two candidates can have the same ACE transcript with the same completed courses and one demographic can bring in 30 hours and another can bring in unlimited hours- (for the same exact degree).

Two wrongs don't make a right. I agree that there are more scholarships available for younger students but if there eligibility requirements are discriminatory based on age, race, etc then there policies are just as wrong as UMPI's.

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[dfrecore]

Many, many schools have policies you or I might not like. The Pierpont BOG AAS program requires that you've been graduated for 2 years. TESU requires you to be 20, or else jump through hoops to get a waiver. WGU IT degrees have hoops to jump through, including either having an AA, 300-level credit in IT courses, having 2 years of IT work experience, or having specific IT certifications.

The reason for this is that they've determined that people that don't meet these particular requirements don't generally do well in their schools/programs. It's not personal against someone, it's that they want students to be successful, and they've figured out what keeps students from being successful in general.

Instead of focusing on a school that won't work for you, just find one that does! There are many options available. There's nothing stopping you from going to another school that is targeted toward your demographic, or doing other things that will help you get through one of the above-mentioned hoops. (Obviously you can't do anything to get older, sorry).