NCCPPR North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research

Making Federal Loans Available to Students in All of N.C.’s Community Colleges –Two years ago, the Center was shocked to find that only 21 of North Carolina’s 58 community colleges made federal loan programs available to their students. We took this research to the legislature, and the 2009 General Assembly included a provision in the 2009 budget bill urging all community colleges to participate in federal student loan programs. Nothing happened. So, on April 13th, Center staff Ran Coble and Sam Watts testified before the legislature’s Joint Select Study Committee on State-Funded Student Financial Aid and recommended that the legislature now require this. The study committee agreed, and the 2010 legislature passed a law which requires all community colleges to participate in the federal direct student loan program. These loans are the most affordable and safest way to borrow money for college and will make federal loans available to 177,000 more students in the other 37 community colleges in N.C.

Consolidating Student Financial Aid and Loan Programs and Helping Parents and Students – In new research on student financial aid policy, we found 14 programs that use financial aid to address state work force shortages in such fields as teaching and nursing and other health professions. Students receiving aid under these programs have their loans forgiven if they work in the needed fields in North Carolina. However, parents and students find it difficult and confusing to apply for and understand 14 different programs so the Center recommended consolidation of the programs. Again, the legislative study committee agreed, and the 2010 budget bill created a Working Group on the Consolidation and Simplification of State Student Financial Aid Programs. That group is to report back to the legislature in October 2010.   

Governor’s Executive Order To Assess State Agencies’ Readiness for the Growing Aging Population – Over the last year, the Center has published major research showing that the state’s aging population of 65 and over will double by 2030 and how that growth in the elderly population affects the state budget and a number of state agencies. On March 30, 2010, Gov. Beverly Perdue responded by issuing Executive Order #54, ordering all cabinet agencies to “assess their readiness to serve our aging population.” Other agencies under separately elected officials are requested to do the same. The Governor’s press release said, “For the first time in state history, agencies will identify ways to better prepare for an aging workforce, to improve the safety and security of seniors, to increase opportunities for lifelong learning and to identify ways to better utilize senior volunteers and their skills.”

Governor’s Executive Order Re-establishing the N.C. Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service – In our research on the civic contributions of the elderly, the Center said that seniors’ talents need to be tapped to help the state increase volunteerism, voter turnout, charitable contributions, and other forms of civic engagement. On December 17, 2009, Gov. Perdue re-established the N.C. Commission on Volunteerism and Community Service. In its State Service Plan for 2010-2013, the Commission specifically targets the 55 and older population in its goal “to harness the experience and motivation of the Baby Boomers by engaging them in service.”

The Governor’s Six Policy Roundtables on Aging – The Governor also sponsored six policy roundtables across the state from April through June on key issues affecting the aging. These roundtables were held in Wilmington, Greenville, Greensboro, Charlotte, Asheville, and Boone and focused on health and aging, the economics of aging, access and choice in services and supports, lifelong engagement and contributions, homes and neighborhoods, and safe communities.

 Helping Community Colleges Address Key Challenges – For the third year in a row, the N.C. General Assembly took significant actions in responding to our recommendations when it:

Appropriated $12 million (in addition to $9 million in 2009 and $5 million in 2008) to address the equipment shortages documented by the Center. This results from the Center’s finding that equipment shortages had forced community colleges to cancel 98 job training programs.

Appropriated $6.2 million (in addition to $4.8 million in 2009 and $4 million in 2008) for high-demand/high-cost health care programs in nursing, dental, and radiology technology to address work force shortages that we documented;

Appropriated $900,000 in recurring funds (in addition to $985,000 in 2008) for mentoring of minority males in community colleges, a group that the Center identified as needing special attention in our 2008 report.

Campaign To Ferret Out Medicaid Fraud – In the Center’s research on Medicaid and the aging, the Center found that while only 10 percent of the recipients of Medicaid services are elderly, more than 20 percent of total Medicaid service dollars in North Carolina are spent on the elderly, with more than half of this on nursing home care. We also highlighted the Attorney General’s Medicaid Investigations Unit, which last year recovered $52 million from those convicted of defrauding the Medicaid program. In March, the Governor kicked off a campaign to crack down on Medicaid fraud by partnering with IBM Corporation to track Medicaid records and uncover abuses by patients or heath care providers. The legislature also acted by appropriating an additional $600,000 for the Medicaid Investigative Unit Program.

New Data on the Ethnicity of Mental Health Patients To Be Published – In the Center’s research on mental health reform, we recommended that the Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services begin to publish the data they collect on ethnicity of clients at the state’s alcohol and drug treatment centers in order to improve targeting of services for various races and ethnicities. In an email to the Center in April, the Division Director agreed to do that, beginning with their 2009-10 report.

Domestic Violence Training for Judges – For the sixth year in a row, the legislature enacted another of our recommendations to address domestic violence, this time requesting that the N.C. Supreme Court establish minimum standards of education and training for all district court judges in North Carolina in handling civil and criminal domestic violence cases.  Because the judicial branch is a separate branch of government, the legislature cannot require that this be done. In 2005, the Center had found that the Rules on Continuing Judicial Education did not specify any topics that must be covered in the 30 hours of education and training required biennially of all judges. 

Ending In-State Tuition for Out-of-State Athletes – In our testimony before the legislature’s Joint Select Study Committee on State-Funded Financial Aid, the Center recommended repealing the statute that gives in-state tuition to out-of-state athletes. The 2010 legislature agreed and repealed the law, saving the state $9.4 million annually.

Dedicating 20% of the Proceeds from Tuition Increases to Financial Aid – In that same testimony to the legislative study committee, we noted that tuition had been increased at North Carolina’s 16 public universities in 9 of the last 10 years, an increase of 144 percent. With another tuition increase authorized this year and student debt rising, the Center recommended that the legislature require that a high percentage of the proceeds from tuition increases be earmarked for student financial aid. The legislature agreed and required that at least 20 percent of the proceeds from campus-initiated tuition increases be earmarked for need-based student financial aid.

Televising Legislative Sessions – In 1993, the Center proposed a state-level C-SPAN to make the legislature’s work more transparent and accessible to the state’s citizens. But, it was not until 2008 that Speaker of the House Joe Hackney created a House Select Committee on Televising Legislative Sessions. That study committee recommended “that the House of Representatives offer live, gavel-to-gavel video coverage” of floor debate and of selected committee meetings – including the very important Finance and Appropriations Committees, which handle all tax and budget bills. The state’s $4.5 billion budget shortfall kept the House from implementing this in 2009. However, the 2010 legislature authorized a study not only of televising all House sessions but also Senate sessions.

Preventing and Reducing High School Dropouts – The Center first published its research findings and recommendations on ways to prevent and reduce high school dropouts in 2007. The legislature took these actions in 2010 in response to the Center’s recommendations.

For the fourth consecutive year, the legislature appropriated funds for dropout prevention grants, this year allocating $13 million (in addition to $13 million in 2009, $15 million in 2008, and $7 million in 2007);

As the Center recommended, the legislature evaluated the results of the earlier grants;

As the Center recommended, the 2010 legislature re-authorized a study of whether raising the compulsory school attendance age would further reduce dropouts; and

Most importantly, the statewide dropout rate has declined for three years in a row, and the graduation rate has increased four years in a row. Research by Princeton University Professor Cecilia Rouse shows that each dropout costs the nation about $260,000 over a lifetime. With 3,250 fewer dropouts in North Carolina last year, the state already is saving more than $845 million.