By Lindsay Tice,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – Melissa Meymaris has her choice of University of Southern Maine campuses.

She could go to Gorham, a suburban school filled with young, traditional students. She could go to Portland, a large campus with thousands of commuters.

But Lewiston-Auburn College is her favorite. She tries to schedule as many classes as she can there.

“Here it’s more adult. The focus is on education, what you’re here for,” said 20-year-old Meymaris, a social work student who travels an hour and 15 minutes from her home in Bridgton to the Lewiston campus.

“It’s not like you have a class with 300 people,” she said. “I like that.”

She’s not the only one. Lewiston-Auburn College, a single building located in a busy commercial district off Lisbon Street, is growing again. This fall, 1,350 students have registered for classes, up 10 percent from last year.

The college started with less than 100 students in 1988. Over the last 10 years, enrollment has doubled. It is the fastest-growing campus in the University of Maine system.

Most lab courses are full, or close to it. Social and behavioral sciences, nursing, leadership and organizational studies programs have the largest enrollments.

Students say they’re devoted to the small, close-knit school, which shares its campus with the University of Maine at Augusta.

Kimberlee Galipeau, a 26-year-old nursing student from Sabattus, started her college career in Alabama. She’s now in her third year at Lewiston-Auburn College.

“I found I couldn’t handle classes with 400 people, so I moved back,” she said. “Their nursing program was one of the best in the country, but when you can’t ask a question, it doesn’t help.”

At Lewiston-Auburn College, she said, classes are more intimate and teachers are always willing to help. She and fellow nursing student Elizabeth Young have seen the school population boom as other students discover the same advantages.

“It’s almost impossible to get into the nursing program now,” Young said.

The small hallway cafe fills quickly at lunchtime. Upstairs study areas overflow with students before and after the most popular afternoon classes. Parking is often a problem.

“We’re snug. We’re definitely snug,” said Dean Zark VanZandt.

Space is so scarce that some conference rooms have been turned into classrooms. Recently, three part-time instructors were assigned a single office to share.

College officials hope to expand using $2 million from a bond before voters in November. The college bought a neighboring property a couple of years ago. If the bond passes, the college may renovate that neighboring building or tear it down, using the land for parking and allowing officials to build new additions on the existing parking lot.

VanZandt believes the college can expand without losing the close-knit community that attracted so many students in the first place. He believes it has little choice but to try.

“I don’t even like to think about it if the bond doesn’t pass,” VanZandt said.

The college last expanded in 2001 as part of a $3.5 million project that added or renovated more than 20,000 square feet.

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