Community Colleges Pool Resources
chowan university, east carolina university, education, elizabeth city state university, halifax community college, roanoke,
The line between two-year and four-year programs just got a little blurrier, thanks to several new partnership programs between Halifax Community College and several other area and regional higher-education institutions.
With multiple degree tracks of its own, HCC stays plenty busy providing certificate and degree opportunities for the area’s residents. By teaming up with Chowan University, Elizabeth City State University and East Carolina University, the school has created a mix of opportunities that allows students to achieve anything from a certificate to a full, four-year degree.
“So many of our students are in the social-service arena and are service providers,” says Dr. Ervin V. Griffin Sr., president of Halifax Community College. “We began to do this because we know that many of our students would like to stay in this area, but also to be able to get a bachelor’s degree. We think these programs can give them a seamless transfer from a two-year program to a four-year program, and it’s just the most cost-effective thing we can provide to a rural area like we serve.”
The college’s current partnership programs include the Adult Degree Completion Program with Chowan University focusing on accounting and other business and social-science degree tracks. There are transferable general education courses provided to students at Eastern Carolina Christian College and teacher-preparation, nursing and other courses in tandem with Elizabeth City State University, North Carolina Central University and East Carolina University.
Rising enrollments for all of these programs and others offered by the college indicate strong and ongoing community interest. That interest encourages HCC to seek other joint agreement opportunities, Griffin says.
“Hopefully, as we identify needs in the community with regard to workforce and economic development, or special categories of higher degrees that we don’t have a lot of people representing, we can work with our partners,” he says. “Whether it’s a private partner, like Chowan, or a public partner like the UNC system, we’ll be able to identify needs and expand what we have to target them.”
In fact, he adds, these degree-track programs could soon be a force of their own on the Halifax Community College campus.
“We’d love to have a university center that would allow the universities in North Carolina to provide specific programs on the campus here, and that would allow our students to have a seamless progression from their associate degree right into their baccalaureate degree work,” Griffin says. “Not everyone can afford to, or wants to, travel to a university campus, live in the dorms, have that type of experience. Many people want to stay where they are and still earn a degree – that’s what we’re working to help make happen.”
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Story by Brandon Lowe
