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.