Abbey shared her story as part of MECEP’s State of Working Maine 2025 report. Click here to read the full report.
Abbey is a student in the automotive program at Southern Maine Community College and also works two part-time jobs, including one at a Ford dealership. Abbey attends SMCC tuition-free through Maine’s free community college tuition program, currently set to expire with this year’s graduating class.
“I really didn’t want to have to deal with student loans and struggle to pay them off in the future. So not having to worry about tuition and loans took a lot off my plate. Besides that, I would have a career straight out of college, and opportunities for paid internships while still in school.
Working at the dealership while doing the college program has definitely given me a reason to stay. I’m actually taking what I’m learning and applying it in the real world. I already have a career. I don’t have to go hunt for one. I feel very confident going into the future, that I’ve got all my training and I know what I’m doing. Hopefully everything keeps going well and stays on the up. Mechanics make decent money when they’re really good at it.
Right now, when everything is so expensive, I’m kind of worried about how that will affect my life going forward. I still live with my family because it’s too expensive to try to live on my own while going to school. I see a lot of people my age who are living on their own and struggling quite a bit. They have two jobs and side hustles as well, and they’re still struggling to make ends meet. That’s where my anxiety for the future stems from: will this be difficult when I get out of school? Because I don’t want to live with my parents forever. I want to live my own life. I want to live the way I want to live.
I just want to be comfortable, where I don’t have to worry financially and I can treat myself on occasion. If I see a nice pair of shoes I can feel like, ‘I can get this. I’m on budget, I’ll be alright.’ If my truck breaks down, I could buy the parts to fix it. I would have the resources I need.
It’s really important to keep young people here. Free education really helps. Affordable housing is definitely needed, especially for students just out of college who don’t have their feet under them yet. Good jobs that pay well. Mental health is a big concern for my generation. I wish people were more understanding about that, and how serious it actually is. It’s not a joke. I’ve struggled with mental health problems. Most of my friends struggle with mental health problems. I don’t know how to fix that, but just making it easier and more affordable to get care would take a lot of stress off those who aren’t blessed to be in a wealthy family.
I know being an adult is not supposed to be easy, but it’s also not supposed to be paycheck-to-paycheck expensive when you’re working more than 40 hours a week. We just need things to be a little bit easier.”