CHAPEL HILL N.C.—Supervisors of North Carolina’s state university system are discussing whether to counter falling enrollment at six campuses that historically served primarily Black and American Indian students by allowing them to recruit more students from outside the state.
The University of North Carolina’s Board of Governors on Thursday heard a staff recommendation to allow up to 30 percent of newly enrolled students at the six schools to come from outside the state. Enrollment of non-North Carolina freshmen is now limited to 18 percent at the public universities. A year ago, 14 percent of the nearly 32,000 new freshmen were from out-of-state.
The discussion came two days after UNC System President Tom Ross warned faculty and staff at Elizabeth City State University of “hard decisions” ahead as the school faces a $5 million budget shortfall this year. Enrollment fell to under 2,900, costing the school about $1.5 million, UNC budget figures showed. ECSU’s enrollment this fall slid to just over 2,400 students, interim Chancellor Charles Becton said.
ECSU, Fayetteville State University, North Carolina A&T State University, North Carolina Central University, Winston-Salem State University, and UNC-Pembroke all saw revenues from enrollment and related state funding drop by more than $1 million last year, university officials said. All but NCCU projected further drops this year. All were established to train black students except UNC-Pembroke, which was created to serve nearby American Indian residents.
A decision is months away on the proposed five-year experiment to raise non-resident enrollment. The proposal includes keeping constant the number of North Carolina students as the campuses try to rebuild enrollment with more out-of-staters. Besides filling empty classroom seats and stabilizing campus budgets, the campuses would become more efficient as measured by spending per degree earned, said Jonathan Pruitt, a UNC system vice president for finance.
Another advantage is that almost half the out-of-state students who attend the six campuses stay in North Carolina after graduation, boosting the economy, Ross said.
