Rough Around the Edge(combe): Transition and Retention

It is no secret that community colleges struggle to retain students; due to the age and family life of these students, many cannot complete an associate's degree within the two year time frame most colleges encourage.  The data related to grade point average, persistence, and graduation all support that 1) students need an associate's degree in order to be successful, and 2) transfer students need at least 3 years to finish a bachelor's degree.

As of 2015, only 54 students transferred to a UNC school from Edgecombe Community College; this number is low when compared to a similarly-sized Nash Community College, which transfers 86.  However, those that do transfer boast a 2.76 GPA with an associate's degree and a 2.58 with half the credit hours, both of which are comparable to the 2.70 average of all NCCCS graduates. English class GPAs are 2.69, also comparable to other NCCCS grads, but math is the true struggle for these students; the average GPA is a 1.81, meanwhile transfers with half the credit hours faired even worse at 1.21.  Only 68% of ECC students had a GPA of a 2.0 of higher at the end of their first transfer year.  However, these students are persistent as the average number of credit hours dropped is 1.6, compared to 4.3 for other NCCCS students.

Graduation from a UNC system school by ECC graduates is low at 22%; ECU had the lowest with 18% of students attending being able to graduate.  Native juniors graduate at a rate much higher -- 58%.  Those with technical degrees fair just as poorly at 17%.  However, this cohort studied (2010 graduates) experienced the LOWEST 2 year graduation rates in five years; graduation rates fell 50%. Persistence to obtain the degree, however, is at its highest at 72% and has been for the past four years.

Even though the students are struggling to graduate, they still continue to enroll in coursework, but simply take longer to complete the degree.  This trend makes sense; community college students have families and many work full-time.  With these types of barriers, lawmakers should understand that it matters less when they graduate, but that they are able to graduate with an employable set of skills.

Looking Over the Edge(combe): Funding and Faculty

Edgecombe Community College has a unique organizational and funding structure due to its rural location and two locations. Edgecombe receives 16.7 million in net allocations from the state.  Curriculum funding totals nearly 8 million, while continuing education is nearly 1 million and basic skills is 800,000.  Institutional support makes up 6 million of the total budget. The performance-based allocation is surprisingly only .008 % of the net total.  Much of the performance funding comes from the success of its development English program; ECC recieved zero quality funding in developmental math and zero quality funding in first year progression.  Additionally, its licensure passing rates account for the greatest portion of performance-based funding.

Faculty salaries at ECC put them at the top of a normal bell curve at a ranking of 28 out of the 58 colleges; average salary of the 75 full-time faculty is $47,264. Salaries had been stagnant since 2009, but 2015 marked the first year faculty received a raise since then. ECC has a 15:1 student to staff ratio when the 118 staff and the 75 faculty are combined. At 63%, a master's degree is the most common education level, with bachelor's following at 20% and associate's and special certifications at 13%.

ECC's handbook has a blank page where an organizational chart should be; this may reflect the various changes in administration over the last few years. Just recently, Rice and O'Keefe (2014) noted the exodus of many community college leaders of the baby-boomer generation due to retirement. It will be imperative for ECC to mold its faculty and staff to fill these important positions sooner rather than later.

Anticipating the Community College Leadership Void with an Internal Leadership Development Plan

ECC Announces New Academic Vice President

with an Internal Leadership Development Plan

Edge(combe)ing Out the Competition: Students Who Succeed

Students at Edgecombe Community College complete a variety of specialized and transfer programs.  As of Fall 2015, 54 students transferred to a UNC System school. East Carolina University received 18, while the remaining transferred across the other fifteen institutions.  Since 78 students received a liberal arts transfer degree, some students elected to either enter the workforce or transfer to a private college; in fact, Edgecombe just renewed its transfer agreement with Barton, a private college in Wilson, NC.  This variety  in transfer suggests that either students are seeking very specific degree programs, that students seek to attend college near extended family or friends, or that students received better aid packages than at other colleges.

Other popular degrees, in order of popularity, are health sciences, business, and education.  Health sciences is most popular most likely because of Edgecombe's partnership with Vidant Medical Center in funding mobile simulation.  This partnership began in 2009 when Vidant and Golden Leaf Foundation funded a mobile simulation lab in a trailer to be used by Edgecombe to provide training to Vidant employees and to Edgecombe students.  Vidant and Edgecombe Community College share the funding of the Simulation Specialist, who duties as of 2016 also include supervision over the simulation labs in the new Health Sciences building in downtown Rocky Mount.

Edgecombe attempts to facilitate transfer by making classes more flexible.  It offers a very robust online class menu, meaning that many students never have to set foot on campus.  Additionally, it offers Weekend College, which helps to serve working adults; the average age of an Edgecombe student means that more likely than not a student will have a family and/or a full-time job.

Several certificate programs experience high enrollment at Edgecombe Community College.  Automotive, cosmotology, medical office and business administration are popular certificate programs.  Several large, local companies make automotive appealing, like Cummins.  Other large plants like Keihin chemical plant, Hillshire Farms, and QVC demand skills for a business office environment.  Vidant in Tarboro and Greenville support the need for medical office administration certificates.  Should students decide to continue from a certificate to a specialized degree, many articulation agreements include degrees like the Pre-engineering or Early Children degrees.

Graduation rates and retention are low for Edgecombe.  Graduation as of 2011 was 7%; women graduation at twice the rate as men and white students graduated at twice the rate as African Americans.  However, all veterans who were enrolled full-time graduated, and 80% part-time students graduated.

Students: Having an Edge(combe) Over the Rest

Students at Edgecombe Community College participate in a variety of programs.  Other than college transfer to its most common partner East Carolina University, Public Safety and Nursing are the continuing education programs with the highest enrollments.

Edgecombe boasts a higher-than-average age for its students; at 31 the higher age reflects the demographic and area.  Edgecombe is a family-oriented community and as such many adults marry and have kids before embarking upon a career that requires a credential or degree.  Its largely female population reflects its focus on Health Sciences, which is still heavily dominated by women. The out of county residents account for nearly half of its curriculum students; Edgecombe has a very strong digital presence, educating over 3000 students a year in hybrid and online platforms.

Images and facts courtesy of Edgecombe Community "Fast Facts" 

On the Cutting Edge(combe) of Innovation

As Cohen, Brawer, and Kisker (2014) note in their book The American Community College, "to an institution that tries to offer something for everyone in the community, everyone is potentially a student" (p. 47).  Its no surprise then that Edgecombe Community College, situated in a small rural county with a booming African American population, would adopt such an inclusive vision statement.  Edgecombe County is a primarily agricultural community, but is home to several large warehouse and manufacturing plants.  This dynamic fits in squarely with the history of community colleges as open, says early educational scholar Alexis Lange: "increasing access to postsecondary education was also an important aspect of Lange's plans (Cohen et al., 2014).  By the mid 1900s the community college had provided much needed training to waves of immigrants, children of sharecroppers and former slaves, women whose husbands died in war, and during Civil Rights hoards of African Americans.  By the late 60s, North Carolina would not slow its trajectory and has become one of the largest community college systems in the United States.  Edgecombe is a large part of that success; it has experienced record graduations regularly and boasts a continued focus on innovative practices, with its most recent being a simulation hospital that ranks at the top in quality across the state.   Just as the original community colleges battled the demise of agriculture as a sustainable career and lauded industrial training, Edgecombe is committed to offering its students the highest quality programs, instructors, and services.

The mobile simulation team that travels across central North Carolina.  Read more on ECC's website.

The Campus

Edgecombe Community College has two locations, one that serves downtown Rocky Mount, and a rural campus that serves the greater Edgecombe area.