The Quad: Community Colleges Want to Propel NC

‘Our Day Has Arrived’

Not too long ago, the North Carolina Community College System faced major questions about its future. As The Assembly reported in 2022, enrollment fell sharply amid the COVID-19 pandemic following a 27 percent drop over the previous decade, while leadership challenges and high turnover also dogged the system.

A few years later, the community college system has momentum again. And it has asked the state for $100 million for Propel NC, a proposed new funding model aimed at filling high-demand jobs and capitalizing on a boom in short-term credentials. The system’s leaders have called Propel NC a “first-of-its-kind” plan that would revolutionize program offerings and potentially serve as a nationwide model.

However, despite bipartisan support for Propel NC and the community colleges, the system still faces state-level budget pressures and the national politics engulfing higher education.

System leaders say they have momentum to enact Propel NC and execute an innovative vision. “I think our day has arrived,” said Jeffrey Cox, the system’s president. “Community colleges broadly are finally kind of stepping out of the shadows to say, ‘We are not a second-rate alternative. We’re the first, smart choice for hundreds of thousands of students.’”

Read the full story here.

Just for Quad subscribers, here is a glimpse of what legislators on both sides of the aisle told me about why they support community colleges and Propel NC.

Rep. Lindsey Prather (D-Buncombe), who also works as a transfer counselor at UNC Asheville: “I’m hoping that this [Propel NC] will lead to a larger conversation,” she said. “We shouldn’t be pushing students in any direction. … We need to make sure that they’re aware of all of the options, and we need to empower them to make those decisions.”

Rep. Ray Pickett (R-Watauga), who has seen the need for more electricians, plumbers, and other trades in Western NC following Hurricane Helene: “I think for a period of time, people going into those fields sort of fell off,” he said. “And now they’re starting to see that return on investment.”

—Erin Gretzinger

Thanks for reading The Quad, a higher education newsletter written by Matt Hartman and Erin Gretzinger and edited by Emily Stephenson. Reach us with tips or ideas at highered@theassemblync.com.

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Immigration Investigation

If you feel like you’re in the dark about which student visas are getting canceled and why, then you’re exactly where everyone else is, including the students and their universities. Here’s what we’ve been able to work out so far.

Media reports, helpfully collected by Inside Higher Ed, show at least 20 canceled student visas across North Carolina. But a UNC System spokesperson said the number is now in the low 30s for their schools alone. They did not respond to questions about which schools the additional students attend. The Quad reported that one is affiliated with UNC Wilmington, per a school official, and another is connected to N.C. State, an attorney said.

One student has been publicly identified by N.C. State’s student newspaper The Technician. Saudi Arabian graduate student Saleh Al Gurad left the country after his visa was canceled, as did a fellow Saudi, the paper reported. They will finish classes abroad. UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Lee Roberts told The Daily Tar Heel that the school’s students would do the same.

The Quad confirmed some information about three other students whose visas have been revoked. Attorneys for the students said two are Indian nationals in the Optional Practical Training program, which allows students to extend their visas after graduation if they work in a qualifying field. One is affiliated with N.C. State and one with Duke; the other’s school affiliation wasn’t clear.

Legal filings show that two of the students had minor legal issues in the past, including underage drinking and shoplifting, but all charges had been dismissed. Immigration lawyers have told media outlets that some students across the country whose visas were revoked had minor legal infractions, and they called the administration’s moves unprecedented.

It’s starting to affect plans for next year. “As with many colleges and universities, it appears the number of enrolled international students is trending downwards for fall 2025,” a UNC Charlotte spokesperson said.

—Matt Hartman

Correction: An earlier version of this newsletter incorrectly attributed a quote about fall 2025 international student enrollment to a spokesperson from UNC Wilmington. The statement is attributed to UNC Charlotte.

Academic Calendar

UNC-Wilmington Board of Trustees, April 24-25: Administrators will provide an update on an academic portfolio review process passed by the faculty senate last week. The Senate’s budget proposed speeding up the timeline for UNC System universities to conduct reviews with the mandate to cut $20 million in academic programs by June 2026.

UNC System Board of Governors, May 14-15: We’ll be watching to see if campuses seek exemptions for specific academic programs from the system’s memo that suspended graduation requirements related to DEI.

State Board of Community Colleges, May 15-16: We’ll be on the lookout for updates on Propel NC, as well as how the system reacts to the Senate budget’s mandate to cut 9.9 percent of its institutional and academic support budget, totaling $57 million. We’re also following how the system responds to the budget cutting the Minority Male Success Initiative. (More in our story.)

Reach our team with tips or ideas at highered@theassemblync.com.

Required Reading

Broke Spending: Our partners at Border Belt Independent report that UNC-Pembroke could be hit hard by UNC System President Peter Hans’ directive to reduce administrative spending in proportion with enrollment. As enrollment declined by 7 percent, UNC-Pembroke doubled its number of academic administrators and saw a 160 percent increase in payroll spending.

NIH Nixes DEI: STAT reported that the National Institutes of Health will no longer award grants to colleges that have DEI programs or boycott Israeli companies.

Some Push Back: The American Association of Colleges and Universities condemned “unprecedented government overreach and political interference now endangering American higher education.” More than 200 presidents signed the letter, including several in North Carolina.