RALEIGH – North Carolina’s community colleges are loved by their communities – 58 colleges throughout the state, within a 30-minute drive of 95% of North Carolinians. And they are a critical link in North Carolina’s workforce and economic development.
Enrollment tends to jump at community colleges during recessions as workers seek to improve and update their skills.
During the Great Recession, North Carolina community colleges saw a 23% increase in enrollment – from the equivalent of 203,000 full-time students in 2007-08 to 250,000 in 2010-11. As the economy improved, enrollment subsided to about 223,000 by 2016-17.
Total state spending on community colleges climbed somewhat as legislators tried to keep up with enrollment. But in 2011, legislators sharply reduced state support by $121 million (in 2018 dollars) – nearly a 10% cut.
Adjusted for inflation, state spending dropped from $5,554 per full-time student in 2006-07 to $4,215 in 2009-10. It has since climbed to $4,919 per student in 2016-17.
But state support has not returned to pre-recession levels, even though North Carolina has become the 9th-largest state in the nation, additional skills are needed to attract new industry and accommodate existing employers, and more students choose to start at community colleges.
Quality instructors are essential, but stagnant state funding is also reflected in pay for NC community-college instructors. Adjusted for inflation, the average salary for full-time instructors fell from a high of $53,003 in 2007-08 to $47,362 in 2015-16.
North Carolina did not keep up with neighboring states in instructor pay. In 2015-16, its average salary for full-time instructors lagged Florida, Alabama, Tennessee and South Carolina – and trailed region-leading Virginia by $15,282.1
Clyde Ingle says
1. How many actual physical sites are there in the “58 campus” community college system? and how much overlap is there in service area among these physical sites?
2. What percentage of instruction is performed by those “full time faculty” cited here in discussion of faculty pay compared to percentage of instruction by adjunct/part time faculty?
3. What is the 3 year (or comparable rate) completion rate for students in 2 year programs?
4. What is the percentage increase in total (local plus state) salaries of presidents of the colleges during the years in article where increases in full time faculty were reported?