N.C. Cuts Community College Student Success Funding

North Carolina’s $34.4 billion 2026–27 budget, which Democratic Gov. Josh Stein signed into law Tuesday, eliminated funding for a decades-old program originally designed to support minority male students in higher education.

The Minority Male Success Initiative received $3.24 million for fiscal years 2022–26, or about $810,000 each year. The funds went to 21 community colleges across the state, and in FY 2024–25, the initiative helped over 27,000 students, according to the program’s report.

The initiative, which started as a pilot program at six community colleges in 2003, was intended to help historically underserved male students persist and graduate from community colleges by providing them with resources including structured mentoring and academic coaching. In 2007, the North Carolina General Assembly began allocating state funding for the program in four-year cycles.

Last year, the initiative was renamed and refocused as the Student Success Initiative to “enhance the progression and completion rates of underachieving students within the community college system with the goal of strengthening workforce pipelines by increasing the number of credentialed completers within the System.”

The move came as state governments across the country have implemented anti–diversity, equity and inclusion legislation. North Carolina officially banned DEI programs in public higher education institutions last month, though that was after the program had already been renamed.

Community colleges are now tasked with rethinking how they will fund certain services.

Carol Spalding, president of Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, one of the colleges that participates in the initiative, said the funding loss requires the institution to reassess how it will support student success services, though the college’s focus remains on helping “every student” complete college and succeed.

“Rowan-Cabarrus Community College is disappointed to see funding end for an initiative that has helped colleges provide focused support to underserved students as they work toward completion, transfer and career goals,” Spalding said in a statement to Inside Higher Ed. “The Minority Male Success Initiative aligned closely with the mission of community colleges by helping students overcome barriers and stay connected to the support they need.”

Stein said in a release the budget makes “meaningful investments” in community colleges, though he also noted that the budget has “real flaws.” The Republican-controlled General Assembly passed the budget on July 2; the governor’s signature puts into place the state’s first full state budget in more than two years.

“Going forward, there is more work to do,” Stein said in the statement. “We must continue to invest even more in public safety, public education, and other public services to be competitive with other states and to serve our people well. But as today’s budget proves, we can work together to get things done.”

The governor’s office did not return a request for comment on how the funding cuts will impact future students and their ability to receive a postsecondary education.

House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate President Phil Berger, who oversee budget priorities, did not return requests for interviews regarding the decision to remove funding for the initiative.