How US and Scots colleges keep communities afloat

Commuters from nearby Hickory will probably first notice the Center for Advanced Technologies. This converted 13,600-square-foot retail building now houses simulated factory environments, classrooms and state-of-the-art mechanical engineering and design tools.

Next comes the college’s main campus, home to a unique Electrical Lineworker Institute (offering indoor and outdoor education on full-sized poles and working powerlines), libraries and athletic facilities, two integrated high schools and, soon, a new health sciences training facility.

Further north, the college-run J.E. Broyhill Civic Center hosts public events and opportunities for CCC&TI’s arts and culinary students to test and showcase their skills.

And for anyone with a few spare minutes to make their way along one of the most scenic driving routes in the Carolinas, the college’s new Watauga Campus sits atop the mountain in the neighbouring county and offers in-house and satellite learning for students across the region,  as well as one of the best front porch views you can find.

CCC&TI's Watauga Campus marked the college's first physical expansion into a new county and stregnthened partnerships with neighbouring colleges and public school systems. (Image: CCC&TI)

To put it more succinctly, it’s hard to visit Caldwell County and miss CCC&TI. And the college’s prime real estate is no accident. President Dr Mark Poarch believes that visibility is part of what keeps the college thriving. And yet, with all of that facetime, Dr Poarch said that keeping the college front of mind for locals takes constant effort.

“In the rural parts of North Carolina, we’re still holding our own trying to tread water, but we’ve got challenges around population decline and public school enrolment declines.

“People think they need to move to larger metro areas to have a good life and high-paying jobs. But we want to keep people in Caldwell County. So it’s about changing the mindset of folks.”

“When you’re driving up and down 321, you see our buildings everywhere but you won’t really know what we do unless you come inside.”

The more you see the more you know

One of CCC&TI’s core missions is raising awareness of the college’s offerings. This will be a familiar approach for Scotland’s colleges, which are locked in their own fights to increase public awareness, enrolment, and financial security.

CCC&TI President Dr Mark Poarch was recently honoured as the North Carolina Community College President of the Year. He sees community outreach and work with young people as crucial to the college's longevity. (Image: CCC&TI)

Colleges in the United States and Scotland serve similar roles. American community colleges give students a two-year head start on a bachelor’s degree (if they decide on that path) and the necessary credentials to enter various careers.

Like Scotland’s colleges, community colleges also offer short-term training courses, upskilling and reskilling opportunities, and opportunities to earn high school credentials. Many are uniquely tailored to local industry needs and can change year-on-year.

However, one aspect of CCC&TI’s approach that stands out is the constant, intentional inclusion of school-aged students.

Two of the county’s high schools—Caldwell Early College High School and the Caldwell Applied Sciences Academy—are located on CCC&TI’s campus, and students are enrolled in college courses as part of their regular curriculum.

This is crucial for raising awareness in the next generation and because much of the public funding for CCC&TI is enrolment-based.

“The Early College has about 400 students, and the Applied Sciences Academy has about 100,” Dr Poarch said. “That gives us about 600 high schoolers on our campus and they integrate from day one into the college.

“These students make up a large percentage, around 37%, of our total enrolment. Just under 1,400 public school students took at least one college course while they were in high school.

“That’s tuition-free and has saved families well over a million dollars a year in college tuition costs.”

CCC&TI's Electrical Lineman centre is a unique offering that attracts students from across the state, and provides a direct path to employment with local energy companies. (Image: CCC&TI)

Every year, CCC&TI also runs special programmes to bring students onto campus as early as elementary and middle school.

Marla Christie, Executive Director of CCC&TI’s fundraising arm the College Foundation, said that these programmes are essential to the college’s longevity.

“We have made lots more intentional efforts in recent years. Some days we will have hundreds of sixth graders on our campus, along with business and industry partners. We run summer programmes and bridge programmes, to try to catch students when they are younger”

These programmes include scholarship opportunities, such as the Dream Award, which promises free college tuition to select eighth-grade students if they graduate from high school. The award is given to young people who would be first-generation college students and may face social or financial barriers to finishing school. Still, roughly 70% of Dream recipients go on to enroll at CCC&TI after graduation.

The Foundation itself is another standout asset for CCC&TI, one that helps the college directly reap the benefits of its community outreach efforts.

 Through yearlong projects and an annual fund drive, the Foundation contributes roughly half a million dollars annually to CCC&TI’s overall budget of around $60 million.

CCC&TI President Dr Mark Poarch, left, and College Foundation Executive Director Marla Christie, left, receive a donation from Duke Energy, one of the college's local industry partners. (Image: CCC&TI)

With government support for colleges declining in Scotland, finding similar ways of converting public goodwill and industry partnerships into financial support could offer Scotland’s colleges an alternative lifeline.

Despite the evident financial impact of CCC&TI’s outreach, its experience also serves as a harsh reminder that nothing is guaranteed to last.

Similar to the uphill battle that Scotland’s colleges face to earn level standing with universities in the public eye, CCC&TI is fighting to help residents unlearn the lessons of history, which have taught many in the region that college is a path to careers that will let you down.

The weight of history

Furniture manufacturing is royalty in Caldwell County, but there was a time when furniture was God. 

Nearby High Point, North Carolina hosts what is considered the largest furniture trade show in the world, estimated to be worth as much as $6.7 billion to the regional economy. More directly, many international furniture brands were founded and built their reputations – and furniture – in Caldwell County.

Then, in the early 2000s, economic crises hit from multiple angles. Local economic development experts often put the number of jobs lost to overseas manufacturing at above 10,000 in a county with a population hovering around 80,000.  

Some of those furniture companies still have a local presence, but the pain of lost jobs has been slow to dissipate.

“The furniture layoffs in the county stung a lot of people. Some of those people are still living. That means parents and grandparents who are having conversations with kids saying, ‘I worked at a company for 30 years, and they laid me off. You might want to be a little bit leary about going into manufacturing – there’s no guarantee a job will be there.”

CCC&TI's Center for Advanced Technologies is offering new routes into high-paying manufacturing careers for a generation raised on cautionary tales. (Image: CCC&TI)

Manufacturing, of course, is nothing like what it was even a decade ago. Technological skills are more critical than ever, offering workers more versatility. Just as Scotland’s colleges are seen as the frontline for the country’s green skills revolution, CCC&TI is pushing back against historical perceptions of what it means to work in manufacturing or the trades.

Part of that strategy means staying agile.

As the county has diversified, Dr Poarch said that the college has had to respond and adapt to meet the needs of each new employer.

Colleges are at the core of communities on both sides of the pond

CCC&TI knits together the various economic, social, and educational efforts that are working to help the county recover from the pains of recent history and economic upheaval that still weigh on residents a generation later.

Similarly, Scotland’s colleges are at the core of their communities, connecting people needing opportunities with employers needing people. Throughout our investigation into the state of Scotland’s colleges, it became painfully clear that the appreciation for what colleges do has not always translated into what matters most for their survival: enrolment and financial support.

Dr Poarch sympathised with colleagues in Scotland's situation. No silver bullet will solve every problem, but shortsightedness is a mistake that rarely misses an opportunity to bite back.

Speaking about the effort that CCC&TI puts into engaging with younger students, he admitted that he may not see the fruits of that labour and, in the short run, some projects may not make financial sense.

But none of that should stand in the way.

“Six years from now, when those kids are making decisions about their next steps, some of us may not be here, but hopefully, our efforts will pay off.

“You don’t see a lot of return on investment immediately. From a business model you may question if it’s worth doing. But I think if we don’t make those efforts, then people won’t know the opportunities here at home, and we will see more of a mass exodus from our community.”