This Northern Maine College is the State’s Most Affordable Education

You don't have to tell me how expensive college is, considering I'm still paying off my loans in my 40s.

College may be the best years of your life, but you are going to pay for it. Public or private, it doesn't matter. School is expensive. However, it doesn't mean there aren't some more affordable options out there.

Thankfully, there are resources available to find such colleges and universities. One of those is in an interesting list from the financial folks over at Go Banking Rates. The website analyzed the numbers and determined the most affordable college in every state. The site looked at the 2022-2023 school year metrics like in-state tuition costs and room & board fees to determine the best bang for your buck. The school that got the best rating in the Pine Tree State was none other than the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Located in the northern most region of the state, the University of Maine at Fort Kent has been a wonderful part of the state university system for well over a century. Founded as a teacher's school in 1878 as a way to Americanize the area's French-Canadian settlers, UMFK has grown into a fine institute for both associate and bachelor's degree educations.

The school also excels in Acadian and Franco-American studies, which makes sense considering Canada is literally a few steps away from the campus. UMFK even opened Acadian cultural archives back in the late 1980s to help with the continued research in the topic, as well as to preserve the history.

I guess we can also say UMFK is known for being Maine's most affordable college, considering its inclusion on this college list.

According to Go Banking Rates, UMFK's annual cost for in-state tuition is $9,045. The school's annual in-state room and board is $9,565. Those numbers combined make the total cost $18,610.

A lot of money? Yes. A lot of money for college? Hahahaha, no.

Sure, a four-year degree at UMFK is going to cost you around $74,500. It's a ton of money. However, when you square it against other schools, it's a bargain.

Let's compare UMFK to Maine's own Colby College. According to CBS News, Colby's annual cost is over $74,000. That means you can get an entire UMFK education for the same price of one year at Colby. UMFK sounds like an absolute bargain to me.

Now, I'm not trying to scare anyone away from Colby. We are talking about one of the best universities in the country. I'm just pointing out that you can still get a fine education in Maine for well less than $100,000, and it's thanks to the University of Maine at Fort Kent.

Having said all of that, I would still suggest saving now, because continually paying off loans for 20+ years has not been fun.