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Education

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

NC Promise

A capped-tuition plan for four UNC System institutions spends nearly as much money subsidizing out-of-state students as it does for North Carolinians, according to system figures. Officials are sending $84.1 million to institutions participating in the NC Promise program to make up the difference between what it allows them to...

By Ray Gronberg

October 13, 2025

Transfers and UNC’s flagships

I’m laying down a marker here, but bear with me: On a percentage basis, the UNC System’s flagship schools take fewer transfers from North Carolina’s private universities than do their counterparts in the system. In the fall of 2024, NC State and UNC Chapel Hill enrolled 54 and 31 transfer...

By Ray Gronberg

October 9, 2025

The cost of athletics, high school edition

As long as coach Bill Belichick’s Tar Heels football team is beating only the likes of UNC Charlotte, there’s going to be a lot of talk about the cost of college athletics in this state. But high school sports cost money too, and a new report to legislators from the...

By Ray Gronberg

October 8, 2025

School choice

It’s fair to say the leaders of the General Assembly pride themselves on fostering school choice across North Carolina, via the proliferation of charter schools and the Opportunity Scholarship private-school voucher program. But there’s at least one group out there that, while favoring “school choice,” says North Carolina’s work in...

By Ray Gronberg

October 8, 2025

WFU president stepping down next summer

Wake Forest University President Susan Wente will leave her job on June 30, the end of her fifth year in that role. My colleague Kevin Ellis reports the decision came after discussions with board of trustees leadership about the university’s current stability, positive momentum and the need for a succession...

By Ray Gronberg

October 2, 2025

Poe Hall at NC State update

NC State has sued Monsanto and a Pfizer subsidiary over the PCB contamination of Poe Hall, seeking to shield itself from the costs of cleaning up the site and the barrage of workers’ comp claims it fears are coming its way. In addition to damages, the university’s also seeking a...

By Ray Gronberg

October 2, 2025

Duke in the crosshairs

Duke University and Duke Health are getting battered from all sides these days, politically speaking. My Business North Carolina colleague Chris Burritt reported recently on the impasse between Duke Health and Aetna, the CVS Health subsidiary that by some reckonings is the country’s fifth-larger health insurer by market share. Duke...

By Ray Gronberg

September 29, 2025

Zoning exemption for UNC awaits Stein’s pen

Gov. Josh Stein, a Chapel Hill native, ironically may have the last word on whether the town loses its right to regulate UNC Chapel Hill’s land-use moves. House members completed action earlier this week on House Bill 926, sending this year’s regulatory reform package to the governor for his signature...

By Ray Gronberg

September 26, 2025

Regulatory reform bill passes in Senate

Senators voted 31-17 on Monday to pass a regulatory reform bill that will exempt UNC System institutions from local zoning and land-use regulations in Orange, Buncombe and Watauga counties. The provision builds on an existing exemption in Wake County for NC State, and comes amid local controversy over UNC Asheville’s...

By Ray Gronberg

September 23, 2025

A Project Kitty Hawk progress report

Project Kitty Hawk has spent $74.1 million of the $97 million the General Assembly gave it back in 2021 to expand the UNC System’s online degree offerings for adult learners, its leaders say. As of this fall, project-affiliated degree programs at N.C. Central, Appalachian State and East Carolina were serving...

By Ray Gronberg

September 22, 2025

AI at UNC

UNC System President Peter Hans intends to hire a new “chief AI officer” as part of a broader strategy to ensure the university’s 16 campuses aren’t left to deal with new technology on their own. The hire will “help us oversee AI strategy for the system and aid our campuses...

By Ray Gronberg

September 22, 2025

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