If North Carolina community colleges are going to boost enrollment, and if the state is going to meet its attainment goal of credentialing 2 million North Carolinians by 2030, adult learners will need to be part of the equation.

Adult learners are categorized as students over the age of 25.

“Adult learners have different needs than … our traditional students coming straight out of high school,” said Lawrence Rouse, president of Pitt Community College. “They need what I call wrap-around services.”

Those services can include everything from help with transportation to childcare, food, and clothing.

And because the age ranges, needs, and life experiences of an adult learner vary, postsecondary institutions will need to reimagine their business and education models to meet the needs of students older than 25.

One effort to do so is underway in North Carolina.

In June 2021, the John M Belk Endowment, myFutureNC, and the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research announced a pilot project and outreach campaign to engage and enroll adult learners.

NC Reconnect is a collaboration with five North Carolina community colleges: Blue Ridge Community College, Durham Technical Community College, Fayetteville Technical Community College, Pitt Community College, and Vance-Granville Community College. The pilot project included an outreach campaign, called Better Skills. Better Jobs., that engaged students who previously attended one of the five institutions. The campaign also targeted a broader audience of adult learners, not just those who had previously attended.

To better understand how these five community colleges used this initiative to make changes across their campuses, EdNC, along with the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, interviewed presidents, staff, and students at each of the pilot schools.

Read the full article about adult learners by Emily Thomas at The 74.