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During this year’s short session, the N.C. Community College System (NCCCS) asked lawmakers for two requests: $100 million toward the new Propel NC funding model and $69 million for an enrollment growth adjustment to be distributed across the state’s 58 community colleges.
While budget proposals from both chambers included funding for the enrollment growth increase and first phase of Propel NC, no compromise budget was passed before lawmakers adjourned the session.
That means some colleges are facing large budget deficits for Fiscal Year (FY) 2024-25.
“We are advocating daily for the enrollment adjustment increase and our colleges’ need of $69 million,” Alexander Fagg, the system’s director of government relations, told the State Board of Community Colleges last Thursday. “We continue to advocate for and educate about Propel NC, but right now the big star is our enrollment adjustment increase that our colleges vitally need.”
When the General Assembly adjourned in June, it released a resolution outlining future meeting dates and what could be discussed during each meeting.
According to that resolution, the General Assembly cannot discuss budget adjustments until the session scheduled for Nov. 19-22.
Even if the General Assembly funds the enrollment increase, most colleges make spring budget decisions in mid-November — meaning colleges might not have enough time to make decisions that account for having that enrollment increase.
A document obtained by EdNC shows the current budgeted amount for each college, along with what the amount would be with the enrollment adjustment increase. The document lists a $76.4 million difference in total funding, which includes tuition and registration fees.
“Many of them are millions of dollars short on the budget from where they would be,” said NCCCS President Dr. Jeff Cox. “So they’re having to make some of those hard decisions right now.”
Fagg said not having the enrollment adjustment increase is “unchartered territory” for the system. While the adjustment is not statutorily required, Fagg said it has historically been included in the state’s two-year and adjustment budgets.
Board Chair Tom Looney suggested the system advocate for the enrollment adjustment to be required by state law in the future to avoid a similar situation from happening again.
Cox said, “The deficit is so much more than we’ve ever encountered.” In other years where no adjustment budget was passed, Cox said enrollment across the system either decreased or remained relatively flat. However, last year, he said, enrollment growth “was robust.”
“You can’t adjust with money you don’t have,” said Lisa Estep, chair of the Board’s finance committee.
In light of the lack of an adjustment budget, the Board approved a budget booklet, FY 2024-25 State Aid Allocations and Budget Policies. The document includes information on employee salaries, bonuses, and budget allocations for the fiscal year.
During FY 2024-25, the budget includes 3% salary raises for community college faculty and staff, funds to start and expand health care programs, and funds for capital projects and the system’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) modernization project.
“Even though there’s no adjustment budget, there’s still a significant investment in community colleges,” Fagg told the Board.
Board members emphasized the need to continue advocating for the enrollment increase. Cox also suggested advocating for a “carry-over clause,” which would allow colleges more time to spend the funds if they are allocated.
NCCCS staff said the system has prepared the amount of additional funding each college would get should the enrollment increase be allocated in November.
If an enrollment increase is allocated, Board members said they are committed to calling a special meeting in order to get funds to colleges as quickly as possible.
If the enrollment increase and Propel NC are funded, this is the system’s plan for allocations, as presented on Thursday:
Here’s a look at other items discussed during the Board’s August meeting.
Efforts to increase completion for adult learners
The Board’s transformative discussion this month, “Shortening Time to Degree for Adult Learners,” focused on the need for community colleges to support adult learners.
The number of 18 year olds in the U.S. is shrinking, with a “demographic cliff” expected in the next few years that would impact enrollment, particularly at four-year colleges and universities, said Patrick Crane, NCCCS vice president of strategic initiatives.
“Colleges have to look beyond high school students to figure out how they’re going to serve folks in their community, how they’re going to meet enrollment, and how they’re going to continue to meet the labor force needs in the state,” Crane said. “Luckily for community colleges, they’ve always served adults. About 50% of their students are adult learners in North Carolina — so they’re well equipped in this space, but there’s still work to be done.”
At the same time, Crane said, postsecondary education is becoming increasingly necessary for jobs that earn a living wage. By 2031, 85% of jobs that pay more than $39,000 (accounting for inflation) will require more than a high school diploma, according to data from the Georgetown Center on Education and Workforce.
Increases in educational attainment not only lead to higher wages, Crane said, but to lower unemployment and higher labor-force participation.
So what is North Carolina already doing to serve adult learners? Crane highlighted the following initiatives:
- NC Reconnect: Led by the John M. Belk Endowment (JMBE), NC Reconnect has helped four cohorts of colleges (20 total colleges) connect better with adult learners to date. This initiative is focused on connecting with students with some college but no degree, which is about 380,000 students in North Carolina.
- REACH: This initiative is led by the system office with funding from the Lumina Foundation and JMBE. The program served 23 colleges in one cohort and focused on enrolling Black, Hispanic, and Native American adult learners in short-term, high-value credential programs, using pathway design, wraparound supports, and culturally responsive practices for students.
Crane said these efforts are showing promising results. From fall 2020 to fall 2022, there was a 10% increase in adult learners, he said, with a 19% increase in workforce and continuing education courses.
NCCCS data shows that nearly 7 out of 10 adult learners enroll in workforce and continuing education programs. Crane said this demonstrates the value of flexible, short-term workforce programs for adult learners.
“Thinking about a two-year commitment is in many cases unimaginable for a working adult, especially if they have family responsibilities,” he said. “If they can do something in eight weeks, 16 weeks that’s going to dramatically increase their earnings, that’s a much more palatable approach.”
The system is also working to increase credit mobility for adult learners, said Lisa Eads, NCCCS associate vice president for programs.
Helping adult students gain credit for prior courses, workplace experience, military service, professional development, and high-quality certifications can dramatically increase credential completion rate, she said.
In recent years, a system task force has been working to develop a list of prior learning sources for curriculum credit.
Today, nine types of prior learning credits are recognized in Board code:
- Continuing Education to Curriculum (CE to CU)
- Challenge exams
- Standardized exams
- Military credit
- Industry recognized certifications
- Portfolio for work experience
- High school to CTE articulation
- Cambridge International
- Transfer from U.S. institutions
Now that this list of credits has been identified, Eads said the system will keep working on processes “that allow students to demonstrate what they learned that translated into college credit.” The system also hopes to create a credential portal for community colleges to use.
“This is a continual work,” Eads said.
Brian Merritt, the system’s vice president and chief academic officer, said the NCCCS wants to help colleges replicate successful practices and build sustainable support structures across the state.
Specifically, he highlighted efforts to provide more flexibility for adult learners, short-term and stackable credentials, clear connections to employment, opportunities to build social capital, and “acknowledgment and credit for their lived experiences, prior schooling, work and military experience.”
This month, the system created and posted a new position, state director of credit mobility. This position will help the system in working to better serve adult learners, Merritt said.
“You saw those earlier slides that say that students who are awarded… prior credit are retained and complete at higher levels,” he said. “We want to be able to tell that story system wide. …There’s a lot of great work to be done, and we’re just excited to have the person here at the system office going to be leading this effort moving forward.”
Update on presidential reelection amendment
Last month, the State Board of Community Colleges (SBCC) approved an amendment to SBCC code regarding the local college presidential reelection process, following months of discussion and proposed changes.
State law has historically given the Board the authority to approve or deny the election of local college presidents by local boards of trustees. The 2023 budget, passed in September, added reelection authority to the Board.
The SBCC shall not approve the reelection of a college president unless it has received a request to approve such college president’s reelection from the applicable local board of trustees, in compliance with this Section. …
In consideration of the approval of the reelection of a college president, it shall be the intent of the SBCC to ensure that such decision is properly supported by the materials submitted to the SBCC. It shall not be the intent of the SBCC to substitute its judgment for that of the local board of trustees in such local board of trustees’ reelection of its college president.
Language from the proposed amendment, at the Board’s May meeting.
Since January, the Board has discussed the presidential reelection process and proposed amendments to SBCC code to reflect the statute passed in September 2023.
You can read the full amendment approved by the Board in July in the story below.
On Friday, the Board approved another amendment related to the reelection process.
The amendment delegates authority for the Board’s approval of local presidents to the personnel committee.
“The State Board delegates authority to its Personnel Committee to consider and assess the candidates submitted by the System President,” the updated amendment says.
After that point, the system president will communicate the committee’s decision with the local board of trustees. Board members previously said this amendment is intended to streamline the presidential selection process for local colleges.
On Friday, the Board also met in closed session to discuss three personnel items, which were not shared once back in open session.
Proprietary schools, accreditation, and more
Proprietary schools are for-profit businesses that provide vocational education and training. In North Carolina, per state law, they are licensed by the State Board of Community Colleges, through the the State Board of Proprietary Schools, which was created in 2011.
“This authority ensures that these schools maintain a curriculum and standard of education equivalent to similar public schools and educational institutions within the state, as mandated by the General Statutes,” the board’s website says.
NCCCS published a directory of the 122 proprietary schools in 2023-24. Many are health care related, particularly nursing and dental programs.
The total enrollment in North Carolina proprietary schools was 11,160 students during Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-24, according to an annual report presented to the Board.
In May, the Board approved initial licensing for six proprietary schools — to run from May 17, 2024, to June 30, 2025 — and 117 license renewals for FY 2024-25.
Per the report, 14 proprietary schools were initially licensed during the 2023-24 licensing year. During the same time period, seven schools closed or did not renew licenses.
“There were no catastrophic closures during license year 2023-2024,” the report says. “To the knowledge and understanding of the Office of Proprietary Schools, all students have been taught out and no student refunds are owed.”
You can view the full report here.
On Friday, the Board also approved initial licensure for health care programs at four proprietary schools.
Accreditation update
A law passed during the 2023 long session now requires colleges and universities to change accreditors every 10 years, or after each cycle. The new law does not allocate any funding toward the process.
“This is going to be a big lift for our institutions, especially our rural institutions,” Merritt said in November. “There is a lot of anxiety across our system about this.”
The state’s 58 colleges are at different stages in their accreditation cycles. The law does allow colleges to stay with their current accreditor for consecutive cycles if they are “not granted candidacy status” from another accreditor three years before the current accreditation expires.
There are six accrediting agencies for higher education listed in the law.
Last week, Merritt told the Board that 28 colleges have told the system they intend to move to the Higher Learning Commission for their next accreditation cycle. Before doing so, each college must communicate with the U.S. Department of Education, which must approve any change in accreditors before a college can start that cycle.
Merritt said the state’s other 30 community colleges are either too close or too far from their next cycle to have moved accreditors.
Other meeting items:
- The Board approved the 2023-24 expenditures report for the system’s customized training program. According to the report, the program expended nearly $14 million in 2023-24 and trained 29,924 students, at an average cost per trainee at $464.46. You can view the expenditures at each local college starting on page 12 of the report.
- The State Board Reserve Year End Report, presented last week, shows there was $60,019 unexpended in FY 2022-23 and $95,586.15 unexpended in FY 2023-24.
- The Board approved an allocation of $1.4 million in high-cost workforce start-up funding and $1.6 million in high-cost workforce expansion funding to “support the start-up and expansion of healthcare workforce programs.”
- The Board also approved an allocation of $140,343 to Randolph Community College, which will serve as host college for one NCEdge regional director.
- Finally, the Board approved the FY 2025 System Office Risk Assessment and Audit Plan. Among other things, Board members discussed asking lawmakers for more funds to increase auditing capacities within the system.
The full Board meets next for its annual retreat Sept. 18-20 at Haywood Community College in Clyde.
