North Carolina a National Leader – In Reducing Access to Higher Education

A Sharp Detour on the Road to National Greatness

One of the non-controversial issues in economics is that while a highly educated and trained population is not a guarantee of a nation’s economic success, a poorly educated untrained populace is a guarantee of lack of economic success.  No nation can succeed without investing in the education of its young people.

North Carolina is one of the emblems of an economic success through higher education.  Compare the last fifty years in North Carolina to South Carolina.  North Carolina has had a highly diverse, and very strong economy.  This is in part due to the state’s commitment to education and transportation.  Is there a major airport in South Carolina?  Yes, It’s called Charlotte, N.C. International.

North Carolina, with its superb public universities, its strong colleges that are all part of the UNC system and its network of 2 year schools is a case study in what investment in education can do for people and for an area’s economy.  But with Republicans now in charge of the legislature and tax cuts as the main item on the menu, things are changing.

The Raleigh News and Observer documents the problem with anecdotal and statistical evidence.

A few nights a week, Ashley Williams stocks shelves and runs the cash register at Big Lots in Laurinburg. She's excited about the second part-time job she just landed, decorating cakes at Walmart.

Williams, a 22-year-old computer science major at UNC-Pembroke, lives in Laurinburg with her unemployed parents and commutes to campus. She helps out with the family grocery bill and pays for her cellphone, car and gas.

Her financial aid package dropped significantly this fall, when she lost about $1,000 she used to get from state grants. After tuition, fees and health insurance were paid from her federal aid, she had $45 left - not enough to buy her books, which cost nearly $400

UNC Pembroke is one of those smaller state campuses that dot the country, educating men and women who need skills to advance in life, rather than needing a school whose football team is ranked in the top 10.  These colleges frequently serve students who are the first in their families to go to college.  They are a critical factor in generating a middle class.  But things are not well at UNC Pembroke

More than 500 of her fellow classmates left campus, or did not return this fall, because they couldn't pay their tuition bill, UNCP officials say. The students who dropped out were academically eligible, but the money wasn't there

Overall in North Carolina the University system has been hit hard by the Republican legislature

More than half of the UNC system's 220,000 students receive some form of need-based financial aid; a little more than a third receive federal Pell Grants, the primary source of aid for low-income students. Some turn to loans, while others can't or won't borrow more.

This year, the system has $35 million less in state financial aid dollars for grants; an estimated 5,500 fewer students will receive financial aid from the state.

But Republicans were able to force a decline in the state sales tax, so their agenda is on target.  The agenda of young people, not so much.

UNC President Tom Ross, in his inaugural speech last week, said the university system should keep its historic commitment to affordability but not sacrifice academic quality as state money declines.

"Still, maintaining high quality and raising educational attainment amid rising costs will require a dependable, adequate stream of need-based financial aid, lest we deny many economically disadvantaged - and middle class - students opportunities that the world of the future will make available only to the college-educated," he said.

Mr. Ross obviously does not understand the Republican war on the middle class, but the middle class students now being priced out of North Carolina colleges do.  And exactly how this policy is going to keep the United States at the top of the world’s economy, well the answer to that question is known, but the class that taught it was canceled for lack of funding.