Dogged by a budget crisis fueled in part by low student enrollment, the University of Maine System says its fall 2014 headcount is down 2.5 percent systemwide from fall 2013, although the numbers are up slightly at the system’s flagship campus in Orono and at UMaine Fort Kent.

At the University of Southern Maine, which has 8,428 students in Portland, Gorham and Lewiston, overall enrollment is down 5.5 percent, with a 1.4 percent drop in graduate enrollment and a 6.6 percent drop in undergraduate enrollment from the fall of 2012. USM enrollment is down 13 percent over five years, according to the report dated Oct. 23.

The system has posted declining enrollment figures for years, which officials say is largely related to Maine’s demographics and the shrinking number of Maine high school graduates.

That trend has university officials focused on recruiting more nontraditional, transfer, adult and out-of-state students.

Overall, the number of students systemwide is 29,613 students, down 7.5 percent over the last five years, according to the report posted on the system website.

For all seven campuses, enrollment this fall totals 29,613 students, a 7.5 percent drop since the fall of 2010, when the system had 32,009 students.

Officials have noticed bright spots in the enrollment trends, particularly an increase in the number of out-of-state students, who pay significantly more in tuition.

The out-of-state headcount systemwide – 3,825 students – is up 12 percent since last year, and up 25 percent since 2010. The entire student population is 83 percent in-state students, 14.5 percent out-of-state students and 2.3 percent international students.

Transfers are also up, only 1 percent in-state, but up 12 percent for students transferring in from out of state. System officials are also trying to bolster the transfers from the Maine Community College System in particular, and the report said those numbers are up 4 percent since last year.

The enrollment figures come out as the seven campuses are developing their budgets for the next year.

Without changes, the entire University of Maine System faces a projected $69 million deficit by 2019. In the most recent budget, approved in May, officials cut 157 positions and used $11.4 million in emergency funds to close a $36 million deficit in the system’s $529 million budget.

The deepest budget cuts so far this year have come at USM, where President David Flanagan is cutting 50 faculty positions to close $6 million of a total $16 million budget gap for the next fiscal year. After 25 faculty members took an enhanced retirement package, the remaining 25 people were laid off this week. More USM layoffs, among staff and administration positions, are expected next month, to cover the remaining $10 million shortfall.

At Orono, officials have said they must cut next year’s $242 million budget by $7 million, but will not eliminate any academic programs and will try to avoid layoffs.

Staff Writer Noel K. Gallagher can be contacted at 791-6387 or at:

ngallagher@pressherald.com