LEWISTON, Maine - Husson University says a record number of incoming students are planning to attend the Bangor school this fall.
The private university announced today that it received more than 2,700 applications for its fall 2016 class - a 16 percent increase from last year's class.
Jonathan Henry, Husson's vice president of enrollment management, says the biggest reason for the growth is the university's focus on recruiting students from across southern New England, particularly as Maine's younger population keeps declining, "but also because of our price point, and the nature of our professional degree program. There was an opportunity in those parts."
Husson isn't the only school targeting states like Massachusetts and Connecticut. Last week, the University of Maine announced that it's fall class had seen a 54 percent increase in out-of-state students. One of the reasons for that is UMaine's new "flagship match" program, which lets students from New England pay what they'd pay at their own state's public university instead of out-of-state tuition.