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| For Release: IMMEDIATE | Contact: Public Affairs |
| Date: December 10, 2004 | (919) 807-6963 |
North Carolinians Voice Strong Support for
Community Colleges as Providers of Opportunity for All, Survey Reveals
Seven in Ten North Carolinians Support Expanding
Community College System to Serve More Students
RALEIGH: North Carolinians highly value their community colleges and say they are integral to providing high-quality opportunities for education, career training, and advancement, a new survey of more than 400 adults in North Carolina and 1,000 adults across the nation has revealed. When informed that more people would like to attend community colleges than the colleges have space for, two-thirds (67%) of those surveyed nationally—and 71% of those surveyed in North Carolina—would support "using tax dollars to expand the system of community colleges so more students can attend, even if this means raising state taxes."
The national and North Carolina surveys were conducted by Belden, Russonello, and Stewart of Washington, DC for the Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count initiative funded by the Lumina Foundation for Education. Four North Carolina community colleges—Durham Technical, Guilford Technical, Martin, and Wayne Community Colleges— have been selected to participate in this national initiative designed to increase the success of community college students, particularly those in groups who have been underserved in higher education.
With nine in ten adults in North Carolina having some relationship to the state’s community colleges, community colleges receive high marks from the public, based on first-hand experience. Seven in ten (69%) North Carolina residents have either attended a community college or do so now. Nationally, 55% of Americans report having attended a community college. About two-thirds of North Carolina adults (65%) have a child or other close family member who has attended a community college, a figure close to the national average.
North Carolina Community College System President H. Martin Lancaster knows why the positive response was so high. "North Carolina’s community colleges are the gateway to positive change," said Lancaster. "We provide an open door to a successful future through education and job training by effectively responding to current employment trends and providing significant programs and services for our students."
North Carolinians are more likely than adults nationally to recognize that community colleges help to fulfill a very American value: providing a source of opportunity for people to better themselves. When asked why they should support community colleges, two-thirds (65%) of North Carolinians—compared with 53% nationally—agree with the statement: "Every person in America deserves an opportunity to get an education and community colleges are there to provide people with that opportunity."
The public puts a high priority on supporting community colleges, even in the face of competing state funding issues. Four in five (80%) North Carolinians said that "given the limited funding and the number of other demands on tax dollars" they would nonetheless "oppose cutting back spending on community colleges" in the short-term in order to balance the state budget.
At a time when some colleges are threatened with budget cuts or are actually turning people away, most favor expanding the system rather than curtailing access to it. Only one-quarter (25%) of North Carolinians surveyed would support a solution to raise tuition and fees and become more selective in whom they admit versus 71% of North Carolinians who support expanding the community college system.
Respondents found much to praise in community colleges. Adults across the nation, and even more so in North Carolina, describe community colleges as: conveniently located (93% in North Carolina and the nation say this describes them very or somewhat well); providing high quality education (89% nationally, 91% in North Carolina); providing good job training (85% nationally, 89% in North Carolina); and affordable (82% nationally, 85% in North Carolina).
Dr. Delores Parker, vice president for academic and student services at the NCCCS, says the Lumina-funded initiative requires special effort, but will have far-reaching effects. "The Achieving the Dream Initiative will help the NCCCS increase the graduation rate among ethnic minorities," said Parker. "The initiative is data driven, which will require the colleges to develop strategic systems for tracking the educational progress of the students. While there are four colleges in the System participating in this initiative, the lessons learned will be disseminated to the other colleges."
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For more information on this survey and North Carolina involvement in the Achieving the Dream initiative, contact Dr. Delores Parker, vice president for academic and student services, NCCCS. (919) 807-7096.
Methodology
The survey was carried out among a representative probability sample of 1,055 adults nationally and 400 adults in North Carolina from August 2 to 25, 2004. The national survey was conducted by Belden Russonello & Stewart (BRS) and commissioned by the Bridges to Opportunity Initiative, a program of the Ford Foundation. The study focusing on North Carolinians’ views was commissioned by Jobs for the Future and made possible with funding from Lumina Foundation for Education. The margin of sampling error is plus or minus 3.0 percentage points for the national survey and plus or minus 4.9 percentage points for the North Carolina survey. All phases of interviewer training and data collection were supervised daily by BRS. The poll was preceded by extensive individual interviews with community leaders and a series of focus groups.
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