SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine – Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) proudly announces the prestigious 2024-2025 Military Friendly School designation. This recognition is a testament to SMCC’s unwavering commitment and dedication to serving students who have bravely served in the military.
For the first time, SMCC received the Gold Award designation from Military Friendly, which grades colleges and universities on student retention, graduation, persistence, loan default rates, and other measures for all students, emphasizing student veterans.
“This award comes at an exciting time for Veterans Services,” SMCC Director of Veteran and Military Student Service Amy Lainoff said. “The recognition coincides with our upcoming move to a larger space (Friends of Casco Bay Building) to house our Veterans Resource Center and my office. We will be the only community college in Maine with this type of dedicated space for our students who have previously served and those who continue to serve.”
The 2024-2025 designation marks the fourth consecutive year that SMCC has been recognized as a Military Friendly School. Previously, SMCC held Silver Award-level designations for two years. Out of over 1,800 participating schools in the survey, only 537 institutions were honored with award-level designations in Gold, Silver, and Bronze categories. Of these, 243 schools attained the prestigious “Gold” award status, highlighting their exemplary practices, outcomes, and effective programs.
“The entire SMCC community has contributed to this achievement and, more importantly, to the success of our veteran students,” Lainoff said.
The SMCC community celebrates this remarkable achievement and looks forward to continuing its mission of providing unparalleled support for student veterans.