LEWISTON – The University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College celebrated its new, $4.5 million wing Wednesday with speeches, tours and an announcement: The second floor will be finished with some new money.

U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, came to say the Small Business Administration would provide $282,000 to help finish the wing’s second floor.

The wing houses the college’s LearningWorks, an assortment of programs that have a collective goal of boosting student performance. Programs range from writing labs to mentoring programs.

One LearningWorks goal is to double the number of Androscoggin County residents with college degrees by 2015.

“The task is a daunting one,” said Jan Phillips, associate dean for outreach. “Androscoggin County has a population of 100,000 people spread over two cities, 13 towns and 500 miles.”

The goal was set high, Phillips said, because of the need. Only 16 percent of the county’s residents have four-year degrees; 25 percent have two-year degrees. One result is household incomes in Androscoggin County are 4.1 percent lower than the state average. “More people (in the county) cannot read than hold college degrees,” she said. For lives to improve, that has to change, she said.

In announcing the new funding, Michaud said education is “an investment, not an expense.” He called the LearningWorks mission “vital.”

Before Michaud was elected to Congress, he was a millworker at Great Northern Paper Co. for 26 years. Three days after he was sworn into office, the mill closed. High school and working at the mill was all most workers knew, Michaud said.

Programs such as LearningWorks could make a difference in the lives of people who want to pursue higher education, he said.

Before giving tours of the new facility, Phillips introduced several people who represent LearningWorks programs:

• Joan Macri, who heads the aspiration lab, is working with seven area high schools. Her job is to get young people to go to college. Macri is helping enroll high school students in Early College, through which they can take college courses while in high school.

• Eva Giles of Lewiston Adult Education is working to help adult education students go to college. She is also working on a new effort that would allow some adult ed courses to be held at the college.

• Ismail Ahmed works with the local Somali population. Many arrive in the United States with minimal English and few work skills.

• Karen Hall heads the writing center. She works with students, many of whom are adult learners, who don’t know how to write essays and other college papers.