Fact Sheet
 

What role do the Community Colleges of North Carolina play in the statewide economy? Business sales in the State of North Carolina are $38 billion larger, and labor income is $15 billion larger due to the past and present operations of North Carolina's Community Colleges. The benefits of a robust state economy translate into job and investment opportunities, increased business revenues, greater availability of public funds, and an eased tax burden.
 

North Carolina's Community Colleges stimulate the state economy

• North Carolina's Community Colleges had operating expenses of $1 billion in fiscal 2003, and spent 93% of this in the State of North Carolina to purchase supplies and pay salaries, wages, and benefits (i.e., earnings).

• North Carolina's Community Colleges employ 12,683 full-time and 20,738 part-time faculty and staff. The colleges paid faculty and staff salaries, wages, and benefits of $769 million in fiscal 2003.

• For every $1 the colleges pay in earnings, there is an additional $0.77 in earnings generated off campus in North Carolina’s economy—the commonly known multiplier effect.

• The activities of North Carolina's Community Colleges encourage new business, assist existing business, and create long-term economic growth. The colleges enhance worker skills and provide customized training to local business and industry. It is estimated that the present-day workforce in the State of North Carolina embodies over 119.1 million credit and non-credit hours of past and present training at North Carolina's Community Colleges.

• College skills embodied in the present-day workforce increase the output of industries in North Carolina’s economy where the former students are employed by $18 billion. Associated multiplier effects (sometimes called indirect effects) in other industries increase sales by $18 billion.

• College skills from current and former students increase earnings in the State of North Carolina by $7 billion directly, and by another $7 billion indirectly in fiscal 2003.

North Carolina's Community Colleges leverage taxpayer dollars

• State and local government allocated $807 million in support of North Carolina's Community Colleges in fiscal 2003. For every dollar appropriated by state and local government, college spending alone generated $1.67 in earnings in the State of North Carolina.

• For every dollar appropriated by the state and local government in fiscal 2003, student earnings will increase by an average of $0.94 per year, every year through the rest of their working lives. Likewise, for every state dollar appropriated, the State of North Carolina will see social savings of $0.23 per year, every year (i.e., reduced incarceration and health care expenditures, reduced expenditures on unemployment and welfare, and reduced absenteeism).
   

North Carolina's Community Colleges generate a return on government investment
 

• State and local government support for North Carolina's Community Colleges in fiscal 2003 will be fully recovered in 7.7 years, in the form of higher tax receipts (from increased student wages) and avoided costs (e.g., from reduced public expenditures on incarceration).

• Accounting for increased tax receipts and avoided costs, state and local government will see a rate of return of 16.8% on their fiscal 2003 support for North Carolina's Community Colleges.
   

North Carolina's Community Colleges increase individuals’ earning potential

• A total of 842,145 credit and non-credit students attended the colleges in fiscal 2003, 75% of whom were employed full- or part-time while attending.

• As many as 93% of the students stay in the state initially after they leave the colleges and contribute to the statewide economy. Their continued contribution is measured after accounting for out-migration, retirement, and death.

• Studies demonstrate that education increases lifetime earnings. Average annual earnings of a student with a one-year certificate is $26,961,or 81.5% more than someone without a high school diploma or GED, and 15.5% more than a student with a high school diploma. The average earnings of someone with an Associate Degree is $31,544, or 112.3% more than someone without a high school diploma or GED and 35.1% more than a student with a high school diploma or GED.

• After leaving college, the average North Carolina college student will spend 32 years in the workforce. The student who leaves with a two-year college degree will earn $265,170 more than someone with a high school diploma or GED. Over the next 32 years in the workforce, the average North Carolina college student’s discounted lifetime earnings (future values expressed in present value terms) will increase $4.24 for every education dollar invested (in the form of tuition, fees, books, and foregone earnings from employment).

• Students enjoy an attractive 18.6% rate of return on their educational investment, and recover all costs (including wages foregone while attending North Carolina's Community Colleges) in 7.3 years.