In a recent Higher Ed Works webinar, SACSCOC President Belle Wheelan and former UNC Board of Governors Chair Lou Bissette discuss balancing in- and out-of-state students. “It’s a hairy mess,” says Wheelan, but it does improve financial stability. Bissette warns that institutions should not deny admission to qualified in-state students.
CHAPEL HILL (Feb. 17, 2021) – North Carolina’s public Historically Black Colleges and Universities could admit as much as 25% of each freshman class from outside the state under a proposal advanced this week by a UNC Board of Governors committee.1
Since 1986, the UNC System has limited out-of-state enrollment to 18% of each freshman class, with some exceptions at specialized campuses.
But with a projected decline in traditional college-age students and excess capacity at many HBCUs, enrolling more out-of-state students – whose tuition covers the full cost of their education – makes sense, officials contend.
“We need our HBCUs to be at full strength,” UNC System President Peter Hans, who backs the change, told the Board’s Education Planning Committee.
Though they have historically been underfunded, North Carolina has more public HBCUs than any other state, Hans said, and all five are ranked among the top 25 HBCUs in the nation.
Because HBCUs have room for more students, he said, admitting more out-of-state students shouldn’t displace North Carolina students – but that will be monitored closely. The move would attract talented students, improve schools’ financial stability, raise the academic caliber of students and increase graduation rates, Hans said.
And with the state’s goal to have 2 million graduates with degrees or credentials by 2030, “This policy will help us get there,” Hans said.
A letter from chancellors at all five institutions noted that a four-year experiment with 25% out-of-state enrollment at N.C. A&T State University helped launch growth that made A&T the largest HBCU in the nation, with 12,753 students this year. A&T increased degree production by 36.5%, and 32% of its out-of-state graduates were working in North Carolina a year after graduation.
A&T Chancellor Harold Martin told the committee the four-year experiment stabilized A&T’s enrollment, increased retention and graduation rates and increased graduates’ readiness for the workplace.
“We want to be clear that increasing enrollment of (nonresident students) at our campuses will not come at the expense of qualified North Carolina students,” the chancellors wrote. Each campus, in fact, has higher admission requirements for out-of-state students.
Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs Kimberly van Noort told the committee that out-of-state students at the state’s public HBCUs have higher ACT/SAT scores and high-school grade-point averages than in-state students. They have a 50.5% graduation rate vs. 41.5% for in-state students, and 37.9% of out-of-state students were working n North Carolina a year after graduating.
Several board members, including Chair Randy Ramsey, insisted enrollment of out-of-state students cannot come at the expense of in-state students. “I would not support this if it would displace North Carolinians. And I will not do that going forward,” Ramsey said.
The balancing act is more pronounced for schools near the state’s borders. Board member Steve Long noted that Elizabeth City State University, which offers out-of-state tuition of $2,500 a semester under UNC’s NC Promise program, is just 50 miles from Virginia’s populous Tidewater region.
NC Central University enrolled 27.9% out-of-state students this year. But Chancellor Johnson Akinleye told the committee NCCU has capacity to admit both more qualified in-state and more out-of-state students.
Winston-Salem State University is nearing the 18% cap, with 17.5% out-of-state students in this year’s freshman class. Chancellor Elwood Robinson told the committee North Carolina’s HBCUs are a brand known nationwide.
“Our highest priority is to the citizens of North Carolina, but at the same time we’ve got to address this growing interest across the country,” Robinson said.
Fayetteville State Interim Chancellor Peggy Valentine said more out-of-state students will help FSU meet requirements for a new arrangement for its graduates to attend Meharry Medical College. “It will help the entire campus,” Valentine said.
Some board members were cautious, though. Board member Marty Kotis noted that North Carolina’s constitutional duty to provide an education for “as far as practicable, free of expense”2 is to the people of the state, not people from other states.
Kotis asked about support programs for NC students who aren’t admitted to the state’s HBCUs.
Akinleye noted that NCCU has an arrangement called Eagle Connect with Durham Technical Community College, where students who aren’t admitted initially to NCCU can take classes at nearby Durham Tech while living in NCCU dorms.
THOUGH IT WASN’T LINKED to out-of-state enrollment, a discussion in another committee involved projections of a looming decline in the number of 18-24-year-olds. Though North Carolina is expected to see a plateau more than an absolute decline, said Senior Vice President Andrew Kelly, states in the Northeast and Rust Belt will likely see sharp declines.
“We’re going to see a lot more competition from other states,” Kelly said. “They’re going to come looking for our students.”The increase in North Carolina’s out-of-state cap would seem to equip the state’s public HBCUs to counter that poaching. The proposal will be considered by the full Board of Governors in April.
1 https://www.northcarolina.edu/apps/bog/doc.php?id=65743&code=bog, pp. 9-15.
2 https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Constitution/NCConstitution.html, Article IX, Section 9.
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