writing that, "you can get help if you're admitted, but you might not be admitted if you need help." This impacted tuition affordability at Bates, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. Legal scholar Garry Jenkins was appointed president in 2023, becoming the first black president of Bates.
== Academics ==
Bates offers 36 departmental and interdisciplinary program majors and 25 secondary concentrations, and confers Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degrees. The college enrolls around 1,800 students, 200 of whom study abroad each semester. The academic year is broken up into three terms, primary, secondary, and short term, also known as the 4–4–1 academic calendar. This includes two semesters, plus a Short Term consisting of five weeks in the Spring, in which only one class is taken and in-depth coursework is commonplace. Two Short Terms are required for graduation, with a maximum of three.
The largest natural science academic department is biology, followed by mathematics, physics, …
