By Kelly Morgan,Staff Writer

College enrollment is up across the country and more Maine students are going to school in-state, but fear of a “brain drain” remains.

It’s a regional problem, according to John Harney, executive editor of the New England Board of Higher Education’s quarterly publication, Connections. “New England, for a variety of reasons, is growing very slowly and aging fast.”

The Northeast has long been home to some of the nation’s most prestigious schools, but a variety of factors are drawing young people away. It’s not just a perceived lack of job opportunities, but also things like a lack of affordable housing and attraction to social scenes in urban communities.

However, some still receive news of increasing college enrollments with a sense of relief. Numbers released in Connecticut in September, which show an increase in the number of the Nutmeg State’s students attending state schools, has some saying the brain-drain tide there is turning.

In Maine, in-state enrollment always has been high, and recently has grown along with national figures. National college enrollment for recent high school graduates approached a 1997 high of 67 percent, reaching 66.7 percent in 2004, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

The University of Maine last month announced a similar 3 percent increase in student enrollment for 2005, which included a jump in the number of Mainers going to school in-state.

“UMaine has the largest-ever number of Maine high school graduates in the first-year class this year,” wrote spokesman Joe Carr in an e-mail. He views the increased enrollment as good news against brain drain.

“According to a (2002-03) study by UMaine’s Office of Institutional Studies … 80.9 percent of UMaine graduates from Maine stayed in Maine to work after graduation.”

Enrollments also have been soaring in the Maine Community College System. And there are jobs in the state, said spokeswoman Alice Kirkpatrick on Monday. Especially in health care and education, some segments of which require only two-year degrees.

“If we could increase our size and graduate many new students, we still wouldn’t meet the needs of industry in Maine,” she said, pointing out that the brain drain may not be as bad as some believe.

The Maine Compact for Higher Education, established to help address the brain drain problem and encourage college attendance, may not agree. Spokesman Henry Bourgeois was not available for comment Friday, but according to the organization’s Web site, only 50 percent of Maine students go on to college. Fewer complete degrees.

The site says this leads to fewer companies expanding in Maine; a lack of skilled, high-paying jobs; and “an out-migration of young people.”

Judie O’Malley, of the University of Southern Maine’s office of public affairs, said last week that enrollment is up, but she has heard about brain-drain concerns.

“My sense is that some of our students get their degrees and leave the state for more affluent areas,” she said.