By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Andover College, the 700-student business school with campuses in Lewiston and Portland, has been sold to a for-profit education company based in New York City. The new owners hope to expand the college and add programs.

Kaplan Inc., which also owns the Kaplan test preparation company, announced Thursday that it had bought the school from owner Mark Jenkins. Representatives declined to release the purchase price.

Kaplan owns 72 campuses in 17 states through its college division, Kaplan Higher Education. Andover is Kaplan’s first college in Maine.

Kaplan officials said they were drawn to Andover’s quality and that they liked the school’s demographics: adult students looking for career changes.

Kaplan first approached the Jenkins family about selling Andover about 10 years ago, but the family wasn’t interested. When Kaplan contacted the family again six months ago, owner and board of directors Chairman Mark Jenkins agreed to sell.

“Part of it was the fact that I’ve been here almost 30 years and was looking for a way to unwind a bit,” Jenkins said.

Over the years, Jenkins had received several offers for the school. He went with Kaplan, he said, because he liked the company and the resources it could offer staff and students.

“Kaplan’s reputation was what basically swayed me,” Jenkins said.

A bigger company’

Andover College opened in 1967 as the Andover Institute of Business in Portland. The school was based solely in Portland until last year, when it added a campus at the former Good Shepherd Food-Bank building on Lisbon Street in Lewiston. Currently, more than 200 students attend classes in Lewiston.

Kaplan said staff members were notified about the sale earlier this week. Students received an e-mailed press release about it Thursday morning.

“I was surprised because I hadn’t heard anything,” said Rachel Grady of Lisbon, who is attending the medical assisting program in Lewiston.

Grady and other students said they had no concerns about the sale. They hoped the purchase would mean greater opportunities for future students.

“I think it sounds like they’re a bigger company and will have more backing and be able to expand,” she said.

Changes

Vince Pisano, a Kaplan Higher Education official, said the company hopes to do just that. Officials are discussing the addition of a second building to the Lewiston campus and are looking to give the Portland campus a “face lift.” They also hope to add programs.

“I think we will see some immediate and real benefit to the greater Portland and greater Lewiston areas,” said Andover President Steven Ingram.

Andover students will also be allowed to transfer to other Kaplan-owned colleges and to take advantage of Kaplan’s national business network for jobs and other resources.

Kaplan officials said they had no plans to replace faculty and no immediate plans to raise the school’s tuition, which is $495 for a three-credit course. But Pisano said Kaplan will compare Andover’s tuition rates to those of other institutions in the area and may make changes.

Andover is currently led by a six-member board of directors. That board will be disbanded and replaced with a new leadership committee.

Andover College will keep its name.

Andover currently offers certificates in seven areas and associate degrees in nine, including travel and hospitality management, early childhood education and accounting. The school offers day and evening classes. Courses start and end every eight weeks.

Kaplan is a subsidiary of the Washington Post Co.

Changes ahead

• The new owners of Andover College hope to add a second building to the Lewiston campus and to add programs.

• Andover students will be allowed to transfer to other Kaplan-owned colleges.

• There are no plans to replace faculty and no immediate plans to raise the school’s tuition, which is $495 for a three-credit course.

• Andover College will keep its name.

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