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Education

School vouchers: More used in blue counties

Two UNC Charlotte professors have published a study that suggests K-12 school vouchers aren’t as heavily used in the places where they’re likely the most politically popular. Writing in the Journal of School Choice, professors Samatha Schuerman and Jason Giersch say they found “a significant negative association” in usage here...

By Ray Gronberg

February 3, 2026

Info about colleges’ NIL program hard to come by

UNC System schools are mostly sticking to the position that the details of the name, image and likeness programs they use to pay their athletes aren’t up for public discussion. Spokespeople for UNC Chapel Hill, NC State and East Carolina University both responded to recent Business North Carolina queries by declining to...

By Ray Gronberg

January 29, 2026

WSSU only UNC school holding out against tuition increase

Only one of the UNC System’s 16 universities — Winston-Salem State — wants to continue holding the line on in-state undergraduate tuition heading into the 2026-27 academic year. Thirteen others have proposed 3% increases in line with the signals the system Board of Governors and state legislators have sent in...

By Ray Gronberg

January 28, 2026

Roberts: No decision yet on Smith Center future

UNC Chapel Hill Chancellor Lee Roberts says he and his team “haven’t made any decisions” about the future of the university’s basketball arena, and remain open to advice on the subject. He told trustees he intends to set up two stakeholder committees, “one of basketball folks and one made up...

By Ray Gronberg

January 22, 2026

UNC pushing for 2027 Carolina North groundbreaking

UNC Chapel Hill will finally break ground on its Carolina North satellite campus in 2027, Chancellor Lee Roberts and his aides say. Briefing trustees Wednesday morning, Roberts said the plan for the first phase of development on the site will include housing for 2,200 students, plus classroom, lab and research...

By Ray Gronberg

January 22, 2026

UNC-CH making big change to student health service

UNC Chapel Hill officials announced on Tuesday that North Carolina’s state-owned hospital system will “lead and administer” the university’s Campus Health service in the not-too-district future. The move comes amid a campus-wide cost-cutting initiative and targets a service the university’s “all-funds” budget for fiscal 2024-25 said was running at a...

By Ray Gronberg

January 14, 2026

Achievement gaps in the crosshairs

Wednesday’s House Oversight hearing also allowed legislators to sound off about a perennial issue within the Chapel Hill-Carrboro City Schools, namely the large “achievement gap” between white and black students. This is quickly summarized via Department of Public Instruction student-proficiency statistics. For 2025, these show that 70.3% of the Chapel...

By Ray Gronberg

December 12, 2025

Out of state enrollment becoming problem for UNC’s N.C. Promise

UNC officials are looking to strengthen financial penalties against any of the system’s four N.C. Promise universities that enroll too many first-time, first-year student from out of state. The prospective move, pending no earlier than January, comes after Fayetteville State University enrolled 43 more out-of-staters this fall than the 198...

By Ray Gronberg

November 20, 2025

NCSU seeks OK for semiconductor degree

UNC’s Board of Governors meets this week to address a docket that includes an NC State proposal to launch a new master’s degree in wide-bandgap semiconductors. Campus officials at State say they expect the program to ramp up over time, with a target of serving 26 students in its fifth...

By Ray Gronberg

November 17, 2025

Tuition, fees, room and board at UNC flagships

UNC Chapel Hill and NC State officials are moving to propose 3% tuition increases for new in-state undergraduates who arrive on campus this fall. This capitalizes on the UNC System’s willingness — and the legislature’s — to lift the de facto freeze on in-state tuition increases that’s been in effect...

By Ray Gronberg

November 12, 2025

Gift to Elon funding new school

Florida philanthropists Hal and Marjorie Roberts are giving a “once-in-a-generation” donation to Elon University to support elementary-school students with dyslexia. The total amount isn’t being disclosed. The Alamance County school plans to start offering classes for third- and fourth-grade dyslexic students at the new Roberts Academy next fall, then add...

By Ray Gronberg

November 6, 2025

Duke plans for a new world

Duke University officials warned faculty earlier this fall that the Medicaid cuts associated with the federal government’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” were far worse than they’d expected. Briefing the university’s Academic Council back in September, Vice President for Finance Rachel Satterfield said the institution’s financial planning had assumed Duke Health...

By Ray Gronberg

October 23, 2025

No PILOTs at Duke

Duke University President Vince Price has made his administration’s distrust of Durham city and county leaders all but explicit, based on his comments about the local push for Duke to give them a payment in lieu of property taxes. Campus administrators briefed Duke’s Academic Council — its version of a...

By Ray Gronberg

October 22, 2025

Mini-budget addresses NC Promise tuition

Speaking of mini-budgets, the count of those is now three. Legislators have passed and sent to the governor a revised version of Senate Bill 449, which raises out-of-state tuition for the four “NC Promise” schools in the UNC System. The bill cleared the Senate on a 46-0 vote on Tuesday....

By Ray Gronberg

October 22, 2025

Forsyth hopes to bolster donation drive for schools

Forsyth County Commissioners have agreed to a plan they hope incentivizes private donors to come forward with part of the money the local system needs to dig out from under a budget deficit. Voting Thursday, they agreed they’ll waive up to $5 million in “debt” the Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools owes their...

By Ray Gronberg

October 13, 2025

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