Cover Story -- Community Colleges

New Breed of Students Compounds
Old Problems for Community Colleges

Kate and Trey Robinson are symbolic of a familiar type of students now arriving on college campuses statewide. The twin siblings, recent graduates of Garner High School, are enrolling at Wake Technical Community College in anticipation that in a couple of years they will transfer to either East Carolina University or nearby N.C. State to pursue bachelor’s degrees. 

Money has a great deal to do with why the Robinsons are enrolling in Wake Tech but planning to graduate from a four-year school. The two can realize significant savings by living at home and attending community college. But there’s also an academic reason — neither has settled on a major.  “I’ve always known I would go to college,” Kate Robinson says, “but I’m still not exactly sure what I want to do with the rest of my life.”

In contrast to the Robinson twins and thousands like them, another type of college-transfer student is increasingly making his way to community college. “Reverse transfer” students — young people who have earned bachelor’s degrees, typically in liberal arts fields, only to find they’re unprepared for today’s labor market — are among those flocking to community colleges to gain job skills. “Community colleges are being referred to as ‘the other graduate school’,” says Marvin Allen, dean of business technologies at Forsyth Technical Community College. Their presence is bringing a new element of competition to two-year campuses.

“It’s not unusual to see two-year waits for admission to programs such as allied health,” Allen says. Applications for space in such programs at Forsyth Tech are up 25 percent over last year, he says. “High school graduates are discouraged because they must compete with college grads for entry in these programs.”

All told, a combination of demographic and economic forces is burying the state’s 58 community colleges under an avalanche of new students. Just at a time when the large “echo-boomer” population is reaching college age, a sagging economy is sending working adults back to campus to sharpen their occupational skills. On top of that, “traditional” students such as the Robinson twins are finding it difficult to pass up the bargains available at their community college.

“More and more students are recognizing that community colleges are a great value,” explains Martin Lancaster, president of the North Carolina Community College System. He describes the need for adequate funding of the current enrollment boom as the most pressing issue the system faces. “Since we’re funded after the fact, we’re really facing a challenge.”

Under present law, community college tuition payments automatically become state government dollars. In return, the General Assembly looks at head count from the previous year in appropriating funds for the coming year. Given breathtaking spikes in enrollment over the past year, that means intense fiscal pressure for community college administrators. 

Though legislative leaders are proposing a mechanism to predict enrollment growth as a remedy for community college funding, Lancaster was doubtful about its passage this year given current state budget woes.

With constrained financial support from the state, community colleges are now turning to alternatives to provide relief. “I spend a majority of my time raising funds,” says Tony Zeiss, president of Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte. He expects that to become a permanent condition for he and all community college presidents, similar to the way fund-raising has become a primary function of top university executives. 

Adequate state funding for community college is an ongoing challenge, Zeiss says, largely because of an institutional bias toward more glamorous four-year institutions. “Community colleges don’t have 50-yard-line football tickets or black-tie dinners,” he says, “but if you look at the return-on-investment, we offer a tremendous value.” Advocates point to data showing that community college transfer students at four-year universities typically outperform those who’ve spent their freshmen and sophomore years at the university.

Zeiss says that urban community colleges like CPCC are under even greater pressures because funding formulas are less generous for them. In response, CPCC is seeking contributions from corporations and individuals that are invited to “sponsor” a course section for $1,650, the cost of salary and benefits of a part-time instructor. Thus far, Bank of America, Lance Corp. and PepsiCo are among the firms coming forward with sponsorships.

Not all colleges are struggling with instructor costs. In Onslow County, Coastal Carolina Community College makes full use of military personnel from Camp Lejeune to augment its faculty. “The real problem we have is in keeping our technology tools up to date,” says David Barker, chairman of the board of trustees. “We can’t train today’s technology workers on yesterday’s hardware and software.”

Despite the money troubles, the community college system continues to enjoy high marks from industry leaders around the nation. Lancaster points out that in the past four years, Expansion Management, a leading economic development publication, has ranked North Carolina at or near the very top in workforce development. “We also get a fair amount of interest from educational leaders in other states and nations looking at the North Carolina model,” Lancaster says. Key to the system’s excellence is its flexibility and reputation for responsiveness, he adds. “When a new workforce need comes up, our colleges can turn a program around very quickly.”  — Lawrence Bivins

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