Dean’s List: New scholarship offers free tuition at NC community colleges. Who qualifies?

Korie Dean
·6 min read

All 58 North Carolina community colleges are joining the ranks of a handful of the state’s four-year universities in offering free tuition to income-eligible North Carolina residents, thanks to a new scholarship announced last week.

The Next NC Scholarship will provide eligible community college students at least $3,000 — more than full-time cost of tuition at those schools, leaving funds to cover required fees, too.

Eligible students headed to one of the state’s 16 public four-year universities will receive at least $5,000, which is enough to cover half — if not all — of tuition costs at those schools.

Students with the greatest financial need could qualify for even more funding.

So, who’s eligible for the Next NC Scholarship?

Welcome to Dean’s List, a weekly roundup of higher education news in the Triangle and across North Carolina from The News & Observer and myself, Korie Dean. We plan to publish this roundup in an email newsletter format soon, but we wanted to first give you a taste, on our website, of the insights on higher education trends and research you can expect each week.

This week’s edition includes more information about the eligibility requirements for the Next NC Scholarship, as well as a new program offering guaranteed admission at NC Central University. Plus, we’ve got an update on a closed building at NC State University.

Let’s dive in.

Next NC Scholarship to provide free community college tuition

The Next NC Scholarship will provide tuition scholarships to students who meet the following criteria, among others listed on the scholarship website:

  • They are North Carolina residents who are eligible for in-state tuition

  • They come from families with annual incomes of $80,000 or less

  • They are high school graduates or have completed the equivalent of a high school degree

  • They have completed the Federal Application For Student Aid (FAFSA) and have a resulting Student Aid Index (SAI) of 7,500 or below

There is no separate application for the scholarship. Students who meet the eligibility criteria and fill out their FAFSA for the 2024-2025 academic year will automatically receive the awards, which will combine the federal Pell Grant with state-funded financial aid.

FAFSA will open by Dec. 31. Students planning to attend a UNC System school are encouraged to complete the application by June 1, 2024, and students planning to attend a community college are encouraged to complete the FAFSA by Aug. 15, 2024.

“Making postsecondary education more accessible is at the core of our mission, and that includes ensuring that college is affordable,” Jeff Cox, president of the North Carolina Community College System, said in a news release. “Not only will the Next NC Scholarship make attending a North Carolina community college a reality for many residents who may not have previously been able to afford it — it will also help North Carolina meet its growing workforce needs and close the educational attainment gap.”

The scholarship is the latest example of North Carolina colleges, both public and private, beginning to offer free tuition.

Duke University announced in June that it would provide free tuition to North Carolina and South Carolina students whose families make $150,000 or less, while UNC-Chapel Hill and UNC Asheville have announced programs to cover tuition for North Carolina undergraduate students whose families make $80,000 or less. Fayetteville State University also offers free tuition to military-affiliated undergraduate students, an initiative launched in February.

More information about the Next NC Scholarship and additional eligibility requirements is available at nextncscholarship.org.

Poe Hall at NC State to remain closed into spring semester

Citing a need for additional testing for PCB chemicals, NC State University announced Wednesday it would keep Poe Hall closed for the start of the spring semester.

The building, which houses the university’s College of Education and psychology department, has been closed since the week before Thanksgiving after testing showed the presence of PCBs, environmental contaminants banned from being produced in the United States.

The university also released additional information about the timeline that led to the building closing:

  • The university, responding to a concern about indoor air quality stemming from an ongoing renovation program, in August “initiated an internal environmental assessment.” That assessment revealed acceptable limits of asbestos and heavy metals.

  • In October and November, additional samples collected from surfaces in the building were analyzed for asbestos, heavy metals including lead and mercury, and PCBs. Those preliminary tests showed the presence of Aroclor 1262, a PCB, which the university says warrants “further investigation.”

The university is “in the process of engaging an outside consultant to conduct more comprehensive environmental testing to help us better understand” the building’s environment.

Poe Hall at NC State University.
Poe Hall at NC State University.

NC Central, Durham Tech offer guaranteed admission

A newly expanded agreement between Durham Tech Community College and NC Central University will offer guaranteed admission to the four-year, historically Black university in Durham.

The new agreement will also offer Durham Tech students early advising, scholarship transfers, waived application fees, access to the NCCU library and Career Center and access to NCCU campus events at student guest prices.

“This is good not just for NCCU and Durham Tech,”Johnson Akinleye, chancellor of NCCU, said during a news conference last Tuesday. “It’s good for the state of North Carolina.”

My News & Observer colleague Mary Helen Moore has more information about the program in her report.

North Carolina Central University will guarantee acceptance for students who graduate Durham Tech with an associate’s degree.
North Carolina Central University will guarantee acceptance for students who graduate Durham Tech with an associate’s degree.

Sandhills Community College student wins free tuition

Here’s a fun one.

Andrew Jimenez, a student at Sandhills Community College in Southern Pines, won $100,000 in the Dr. Pepper Tuition Toss at the SEC football championship game this weekend by successfully tossing the most footballs into a giant can of Dr. Pepper.

An announcer on the CBS broadcast of the game said SCC built Jimenez “a mock can” to help him practice ahead of the big game. He won many fans over on social media for throwing the footballs from a traditional stance, rather than like a basketball.

“Better than at least 14 QBs in the NFL,” one X, formerly Twitter, user said.

Higher ed news I’m reading

  • Tailei Qi, the UNC graduate student who is accused of fatally shooting professor Zijie Yan in an campus lab building in August, was found unfit to stand trial due to severe mental illness, my News & Observer colleagues Colleen Hammond and Tammy Grubb reported.

  • An Ohio bill that would have restricted diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) trainings at universities and allowed post-tenure review for faculty, among other provisions, essentially died last week, Inside Higher Ed reported.

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That’s all for this week’s roundup of North Carolina higher education news. I hope you’ll stay tuned for more in the weeks to come.

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