The U.S. Department of Education announced in a press release that the 2025-26 FAFSA will open for a limited set of students and institutions on Oct. 1. The department will make the application available to all students on or before Dec. 1.

What we know about the 2025-26 FAFSA:

• On Oct. 1, the department will invite volunteers to participate in the testing period, and over time will make the form available to an increasing number of participants, starting with hundreds of applicants and expanding to tens of thousands.
• In the coming weeks, the department will release more information about how this testing period will work.
• A new, formal request for feedback will be released this week by the department. The department also plans to publish a new roadmap with additional tools for students and families, counselors, institutions, and other partners — to help ensure a successful 2025-26 FAFSA season.

You can read more about the announcement here.

As plans for the 2025-26 FAFSA are underway, support for 2024-25 FAFSA is still available for students.

We need you to spread the word as time is running out for college-bound students to complete the FAFSA with the Aug. 15 priority date looming for those who may qualify for the state’s Next NC Scholarship.

The North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority —  the state’s education financial aid agency — has hired 89 counselors and college advisors at 13 UNC universities and 52 community colleges to offer hands-on FAFSA support for North Carolinians this summer.

Help is available to incoming freshmen, current college students, and adult learners via phone call, email, or in-person, according to a press release.

Where does North Carolina stand with FAFSA completion rates?

According to the press release, North Carolina’s current FAFSA completion rate stands at 49% for high school seniors. In all, that’s nearly 11% — 6,000 students — short of the state’s 2023 completion rate.

Read more here. 

In fall 2023, Isothermal Community College (ICC) transitioned most of the college’s courses to an eight-week format. Fall and spring semesters include two eight-week terms and most summer courses are offered in an eight-week format.

This summer, the college hosted a one-day workshop to share lessons learned throughout their transition to eight-week courses. Leaders from 14 North Carolina community colleges and one Wyoming community college attended the one-day workshop.

What does the data reveal?

• Nearly a year’s worth of data from ICC reveal that headcount and success rates are up.
• From fall 2022 to fall 2023, ICC’s curriculum headcount increased nearly 4.5% – making it the college’s highest headcount since fall 2019. In spring 2024, headcount increased 7.6% from the previous spring semester according to ICC.
• The college’s student success rate – defined as students who complete courses with a “C” or higher – increased to 86% in fall 2023, a 7% jump from the previous fall semester.

You can read the full recap of the convening on our website. 

Earlier this month, Chantal attended a workshop hosted by STEM East at James Sprunt Community College. The workshop provided K-12 teachers with professional development and a look inside the agriculture business. 

Agriculture is a key part of everyday life. STEM East wants to make sure students know that.

A workshop at James Sprunt Community College this week gave teachers professional development and a look inside the agriculture business. The training is one of many events offered by the STEM East Network to help build a workforce pipeline into key industries in eastern North Carolina.

The workshop, titled Smart Agriculture Institute, was organized by three lead K-12 teachers. They led the 20 participating K-12 teachers through agriculture-related lesson plans that they could do with their students.Erica Brown Edwards served as one of the lead teachers for the workshop. She is very familiar with agriculture in education as a North Carolina native and third-grade teacher for the Department of Defense. She hopes that teachers will learn how to integrate the different careers agriculture has to offer into the classroom.

The participants were made welcome on the community college’s campus. In addition to a campus tour, they also got a close look at their agricultural science lab.

You can view Chantal’s recap of the workshop here.

Here’s a look at Elaine Utin’s remarks to graduates at Lenoir Community College:

They say it takes four generations to break a cycle of poverty, to build generational wealth, to increase access to opportunity.

You don’t reach this stage without your parents, without your grandparents, without your community.

From admission to sleepless nights to juggling many things at once, so much of this journey goes unseen, but I see you.

You have embraced this milestone and your culture. My heart rejoices as I see the flags that represent your giants, the shoulders of the community you stand on.

You play a very important role in generational transformation. You are creating a world where we get to use education as a tool for positive change.

You will continue to stand on the shoulders of giants, but you too are a giant. There are others who are standing and will stand on your shoulders.

I encourage you to lead this chapter with trust and love. May God bless you and your families for many generations to come.

You can view the full speech at EdNC.org. 

Richmond Community College’s presidential search | The college’s presidential search committee will begin reviewing the 12 candidates selected from over 50 applications for the president’s position this week. The committee will select five candidates who will be interviewed by the college’s full Board of Trustees.

Registration for NCCCS conference | Early bird registration for the North Carolina Community Colleges System (NCCCS) Conference is open. The conference is scheduled for Oct. 13-15 at the Raleigh Convention Center. Participant registration can be found here. Click here for sponsor and exhibitor registration.   

New transfer agreements | Two community colleges recently signed transfer agreements with four-year universities. Cape Fear Community College and Western Carolina University signed an agreement, along with Isothermal Community College and Western Governors University. 

NCCCS job alert | The NCCCS is looking for a state director of credit mobility. The director is “responsible for facilitating the seamless transfer of coursework and college credentials into credit within the North Carolina Community College System, from K-12, and to four-year colleges and universities, to drive economic mobility outcomes for students across North Carolina.” The application closes Aug. 23.

A-B Tech’s culinary team wins | A team from Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College’s culinary arts and hospitality program recently won the college’s second national championship at the American Culinary Federation (ACF) Nationals.

New Board member for SCC | Joyce Cooper recently joined Southwestern Community College’s Board of Trustees. She is retired from Haywood Community College, spending almost 30 years in various roles. Cooper was appointed by the NC Senate and her term runs through 2028.

NC FAME program at GTCC spotlighted | News teams and a recent group from Switzerland toured Guilford Technical Community College to learn more about the college’s work with the North Carolina Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (NC FAME).

Back-to-school events | Davidson-Davie Community College will host a back-to-school event on Aug. 17 at the college. Bladen Community College hosted a similar event on Aug. 10.

This Inside Higher Ed article takes a look at how several community colleges across the country are dealing with the last of their COVID-19 relief funds, along with the expected impacts now that those funds are dwindling.

Most community colleges are now similarly down to the last dregs of an unprecedented burst of federal funding, nearly $25 billion in COVID-19 relief funds over a three-year period starting in 2020, doled out in three major pieces of legislation. That total sum included $9.7 billion in student aid for emergency cash grants and $13.3 billion in more flexible funds to allay colleges’ expenses associated with the pandemic.

Community colleges had collectively spent 99 percent of their dedicated student aid and 94 percent of their institutional aid by last summer, according to a February report from the Accelerating Recovery in Community Colleges (ARCC) Network, a research coalition focused on the pandemic’s effects on community college students. The report looked at 976 community colleges nationwide.

Now campus leaders are reflecting on the positive ripple effects of those billions—and some are asking themselves what to do as the dollars dry up.

People have long struggled to figure out how to turn their interests in humanities into good-paying jobs.

Lorain County Community College  is addressing the question with a new pilot program. The goal of the “Humanities to Career” initiative is to connect students majoring in arts, communication and English with more of the hands-on experiences at the center of many community college offerings.

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There are no specific academic qualifications students need to hit. But they must be willing to participate in various group activities as well as take on a paid internship.

This summer, students interned with places such as the Lorain County Metroparks and the non-profit Main Street Wellington.

Much of those interns’ tasks are related to marketing, researching and writing. Every industry needs those skills – including, Pongracz said, some of the biggest employers in Northeast Ohio.

“Within IT, healthcare and manufacturing, you need PR [public relations] and marketing, you need communication, you need graphic design,” she said.

Students also join a learning community where they gather with others participating in the pilot. They also have direct access to the college’s career services department to help them with resumes or applications to transfer to a four-year college for a bachelor’s degree.

In addition to classwork, students also work to earn an industry-recognized credential, such as a project marketing certificate or a graphic design credentia  as part of the program.