An initiative aimed at increasing adult learners’ reenrollment in North Carolina community colleges is helping the state make progress toward its educational attainment goal, according to a new four-year evaluation report.
As of this report, NC Reconnect’s outreach efforts had helped 3,098 adults who previously left college without a degree or credential reenroll. Participants returned at rates far higher than the statewide average, the report found.
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Of nearly 48,000 unenrolled adults identified through NC Reconnect, about 27% of those students were contacted. Of those students, about 23% reenrolled. Enrollment rates have remained at 20% or higher across all cohorts, the report found, even as participating colleges increased the number of adults they contacted.
On average, NC Reconnect’s adult learners are 31 years old, 73% are women, and 70% are employed at their time of entry, the report says. Three out of five adult learners are enrolled in career and technical programs, while the rest are in arts and sciences or other programs.
The evaluation was conducted by the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research at NC State University and draws on site visits, interviews, focus groups, and student-level data from the initiative’s participating colleges.
As the state works toward its attainment goal of 2 million residents with a postsecondary degree or credential by 2030, the report says adult learners are central to that effort.
“Adult learners are critically important to the success of North Carolina’s statewide attainment efforts and have a vital role to play in the strength of our workforce and economy,” the report says.
Roughly 1.2 million residents have some college experience but no credential, representing about 30% of adults ages 25 to 64. Statewide, just 2.7% of students who previously stopped their higher education reenrolled during the 2023-24 academic year. But among NC Reconnect participants the reenrollment rate was 22.6% — about 20 percentage points higher than the statewide average.
Read EdNC’s coverage of adult learners
The initiative was launched by the John M. Belk Endowment in partnership with the North Carolina Community College System and supporting organizations, including InsideTrack and marketing firms Crisp Communications and VisionPoint Marketing. It began with five colleges in fall 2021 and has since expanded to 24 community colleges across five cohorts, as well as a new cohort that launched in October.
About 28% of NC Reconnect adult learners earned a degree or credential after reenrolling, and 17% completed their credential within their first year back at college, the report says. Among adult learners in continuing education programs, 67% earned a passing grade.
The evaluation includes a framework that researchers say helps explain these results: the “Five P Framework” — Public Messaging, Partnerships, Processes, Pathways, and Proximity. These five elements capture aspects of the college impacting students from first outreach through graduation.
Colleges reported redesigning marketing to speak directly to adult learners. They’ve also built partnerships with external organizations — such as employers, government agencies, faith-based organizations — to provide better support and resources for their adult learners. Additionally, participating colleges have streamlined policies affecting these students and created clearer academic and career pathways aligned with workforce demands, the report says. Many participants also established dedicated campus spaces and support teams focused specifically on adult learners.
Those actions align closely with the state’s workforce needs. The report says the state is projected to add roughly 500,000 new jobs by 2032, with health care and social assistance accounting for about one-fifth of that growth. Many of the top jobs for associate degree holders — such as dietetic technicians, respiratory therapists, dental hygienists, and occupational therapy assistants — fall within those sectors, the report says.
Moving forward, the report says NC Reconnect hopes to expand to all 58 of the state’s community colleges.
As colleges work to connect with adult learners, the report recommends cultivating intentional partnerships with internal and external stakeholder groups, following up quickly and consistently with potential adult learners, and using data to help predict adult learner success and skills needed for future jobs.
“NC Reconnect continues to boost the economic vitality and workforce development in the state, helping North Carolina reach its postsecondary educational attainment goal,” the report says.
You can read the full report here.
Editor’s note: The John M. Belk Endowment supports the work of EdNC.
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