RALEIGH – North Carolina’s community colleges do so many things for North Carolinians – and one of those is to offer an affordable start toward a four-year degree.
Every North Carolinian lives within 30 minutes of a community-college campus, and the system of 58 colleges reaches about 700,000 students a year.1
“We’re seeing more and more that it is indeed the first choice for individuals seeking high-quality education,” Thomas Stith III, President of the NC Community College System, says in the accompanying video.
“But it’s not the last stop.”
Roughly 35,000 undergraduates in the UNC System, or nearly 20%, came from the state’s community colleges – and those numbers are rising, according to the UNC System Office.
Stith mentions agreements the state’s community colleges have with four-year universities to smooth transfers so that community-college graduates earn credits toward a bachelor’s degree.
Whether a student is interested in a two-year associate degree or spending two years at a community college, then transferring to a public or independent four-year institution, “It’s a pathway to opportunity,” Stith says.
1https://www.nc.gov/agency/community-college-system-office/.
Clyde Ingle says
“… system of 58 colleges reaches about 700,000 students a year.” I’m curious as to why higher ed works and the president keep repeating “58 colleges or campuses” when the obvious fact is that the state has now invested in more than 160 campuses. Consider the overlap of service area and the inevitable over investment in capital projects. Is there no one or institution in the state which has the responsibility to question the possible over expansion of the system?