CHAPEL HILL (April 28, 2021) – Birth rates dropped during the Great Recession – many families weren’t sure of their futures. And 13 years later, colleges and universities are preparing to face the consequences.

The population of 18- to 24-year-olds nationwide is projected to decline in coming years, with precipitous drops in the Northeast and Midwest. Because of North Carolina’s population growth, though, it is expected to see more of a plateau in its historically steady growth in high-school graduates.

For institutions whose state funding is based on enrollment, that poses challenges – if not a threat. And there will be increased competition for students.

“It’s going to be critical for North Carolina to think beyond the traditional college-age student – that roughly 18-to-22 demographic – because the number of those students is going to level off in the years ahead,” UNC System President Peter Hans says in the accompanying video.

“If we’re going to achieve the state’s educational attainment goal, we’ve got to reach more adult learners. And we’ve got to meet them where they are,” he says.

“Now part of that will be done by the community colleges, because that’s their entire philosophy of meeting people where they are – providing accessible, affordable, high-quality education, whether it’s an associate’s degree or a short-term workforce credential,” says Hans, formerly President of the NC Community College System.

“But the University has a role to play in supporting adult learners as well,” he says.

Universities must be nimble, he says, improving online offerings and partnering with community colleges to offer programs locally that can be adapted to adult students’ schedules. Jobs, children and sometimes elderly parents make competing demands for those students’ time.

“Now, online you can take classes when you want to take them. But in person, if we could do it on nights and on weekends and in communities that might not normally be considered ‘college towns,’ that might open up a whole new room for North Carolinians to achieve their dreams,” Hans says.

“And that’s incumbent upon us to respond to that change.”