College officials expect to draw students from area towns to the Lewiston campus.
LEWISTON – The city’s newest school will open in one month.
Andover College, a Portland-based business school, will begin classes on March 22, less than four months after it took over a downtown warehouse for its campus.
“We’ll be ready,” said Andover College President Steven K. Ingram. “It’s moving right along.”
The school signed a 10-year lease in November for the 13,000-square-foot former Good Shepherd Food-Bank warehouse on Lisbon Street. Since then, Andover has gutted the one-story building and has spent $700,000 to refurbish the interior.
Workers now are laying the floor and breaking the space into classrooms and offices.
When it is done, Andover will have six classrooms, four computer labs, a library and offices, Ingram said. The school plans to spend another $200,000 to $300,000 on furniture and equipment.
The campus will house two full-time administrators and three teachers will travel between Lewiston and Portland, Andover’s other campus.
So far, 30 people have applied to the Lewiston campus. Officials expect to have 75 students enrolled by the time classes start next month.
Although all applicants so far are from the Twin Cities, the school expects to draw students from surrounding towns. Eventually, 500 students could enroll in Lewiston, officials have said.
Andover College opened in 1967 as the Andover Institute of Business. It had 40 students. The college now offers associate degrees in nine areas, including accounting, computer technology, criminal justice, business administration and travel and tourism. It has about 500 students.
The school offers day and evening classes and could add weekend classes in Lewiston if there is a demand, Ingram said. Courses start and end every eight weeks.
Students can enroll at Andover until classes start, but officials say new students should apply as soon as possible so that financial aid packages can be worked out.
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