North Carolina Community College System Launches Boost Program

Accelerated college to career program is designed to train the workforce that will drive North Carolina's economic prosperity

RALEIGH, N.C., Feb. 6, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Committed to meeting North Carolina's workforce development needs, the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) announced NC Community Colleges Boost, a new program designed to quickly move students into the high-wage, high-demand careers that will drive our state's future prosperity. Arnold Ventures, a philanthropy that supports research into America's most pressing problems–and evidence-based solutions to address them–is funding this launch with a grant of more than $35.6 million, the largest private grant ever received by NCCCS. The model on which the program is built has a proven track record of doubling graduation rates in multiple other states.

"The City University of New York's Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (CUNY ASAP) model is the gold standard for increasing completion in higher education," said NCCCS president Dr. Jeff Cox. "In the NC Community Colleges Boost implementation, we have taken that model and aligned it with North Carolina's workforce development goals as specified in the PropelNC initiative. This is how we will ensure the maximum benefit for our students and our state. Participants will quickly move through college into the careers that our policymakers have identified as most important to North Carolina's economic success."

"Arnold Ventures is excited to support NC Community Colleges Boost, and we have the utmost confidence in North Carolina's ability to successfully implement this evidence-based program tailored to the unique needs and culture of North Carolina," said Kirby Smith, Executive Vice President of Strategy and Programs at Arnold Ventures. "By aligning the program's goals with the workforce development goals identified by the PropelNC initiative, state leaders are ensuring that students will not only improve their economic security, but will contribute to a thriving North Carolina economy."

"Since the inception of CUNY ASAP in 2007, independent studies have repeatedly confirmed the efficacy of its comprehensive support model as well as its cost-effectiveness and high return on taxpayer investment. ASAP is directly responsible for doubling graduation rates for participating students," said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. "We applaud and thank Arnold Ventures for making the largest private investment to date in replication of the ASAP model and we expect it will be a game changer for students in the North Carolina Community College System, as it has been for more than 100,000 CUNY students and for students at dozens of colleges across the country." 

Launching over the next two years with technical assistance from CUNY ASAP National Replication Collaborative, NC Community Colleges Boost will serve students at eight colleges across the state in 2025, and add seven more in 2026:

Alamance Community College, Bladen Community College, Caldwell Community College & Technical Institute, Cape Fear Community College, Central Carolina Community College, Central Piedmont Community College, Cleveland Community College, Forsyth Tech, Isothermal Community College, Johnston Community College, McDowell Technical Community College, Robeson Community College, Sampson Community College, Wake Technical Community College, and Western Piedmont Community College.

This program works through a combination of timely and relevant supports, dedicated advising for students, and incentives to accelerate their education. This program is a partnership between the state, NCCCS, colleges, and students that invests in students so that they can get good jobs that help their communities.

The North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation will be the System's partner in managing this important grant program. The Foundation is a non-partisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the System's mission.

"This program has increased graduation rates, reduced time to graduation, and lowered the cost per graduate across many individual colleges in several states," said Cox. "Here in North Carolina, we have every reason to expect similar results. What makes this especially exciting is the opportunity to demonstrate success through our pilot and then scale it statewide—something few other states have done. We are fully committed to transparency and will track and report the program's results regularly, ensuring policymakers can clearly see the return on investment. This is an exciting day for North Carolina businesses, companies looking to relocate to a state dedicated to world-class workforce development, and for the residents of North Carolina. We expect the North Carolina Community College System Boost program to make a significant, positive contribution to our state's economic future."

About North Carolina Community College System:
The only public organization in North Carolina dedicated to providing affordable college access to anyone in the state, the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) is focused on delivering a diverse, highly skilled talent pipeline aligned to the labor market. Through its efforts, NCCCS supports economic mobility that creates transformational generational change, and sets the national standard for innovation in higher education and workforce development.

About Arnold Ventures:
Arnold Ventures is a philanthropy that supports research to understand the root causes of America's most persistent and pressing problems, as well as evidence-based solutions to address them. By focusing on systemic change, AV is working to improve the lives of American families, strengthen their communities, and promote their economic opportunity. Since Laura and John Arnold launched their foundation in 2008, the philanthropy has expanded, and Arnold Ventures' focus areas include education, criminal justice, health, infrastructure, and public finance, advocating for bipartisan policy reforms that will lead to lasting, scalable change. The Arnolds became signatories of the Giving Pledge in 2011. 

About the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation:
The North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation (the Foundation) is a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization founded in 1986 to support the mission of the NC Community College System. The Foundation is governed by a diverse board of directors who steward the endowment, raise awareness and funds to develop and advance the System, manage several scholarship and award programs that honor excellence, and support public-private partnership programs that foster innovation. Going forward, the Foundation is leading a comprehensive campaign to drive more student, college, employer, and system success, and deliver more community, economic, and workforce development value for the state.

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SOURCE North Carolina Community College System