The University of Maine System (UMS) announced a two-year, system-wide agreement with OpenAI on May 15, 2026, to provide ChatGPT Edu to students, faculty, and staff. An Aug. 4 email from Ryan Low, the Vice Chancellor for Finance and Strategic AI Integration, updated faculty and staff on the rollout. The original announcement indicated the contract would begin on July 1, but that date passed without system-wide communication. Low’s email, with the subject line “It’s almost here: ChatGPT Edu will be available to you this month,” stated that the UMS IT team has been testing the tool and its integration into existing systems. Access will become available through existing UMS single sign-on beginning in the fall 2026 semester. Later this month, UMS IT will send a communication with details, including instructions for migrating existing content from a free or paid ChatGPT account associated with a @maine.edu email address to a new, FERPA-compliant UMS ChatGPT Edu enterprise account. Low said UMS will offer free training and professional development sessions to employees this fall, with “role-specific tracks across academic and operational functions.” Information will be shared via email and on ai.maine.edu. Student-specific educational resources are also being developed. Low said, “The System will fund the first year of our new two-year contract with OpenAI entirely from unbudgeted revenue generated through investment income, with no new student fee or university cost share.” Funding for