Rate Of College Grads In NC Declines

A lower percentage of North Carolina's young adults are getting college degrees. That's according to census data released earlier this month.

Dave DeWitt: At the end of 2009, 37.9 percent of the state's 25-to-34 year old residents had some sort of college degree. A year later, that number fell by three-tenths of a percentage point. That comes as the national trend is going the other way.

Three years ago, North Carolina ranked 25th in the college attainment category - a year later, the state had fallen to 28th.

North Carolina is one of 40 states that has seen significant higher education budget cuts. In the last four years, the state legislature cut the UNC system budget by more than 1 billion dollars.

And getting a college degree isn't likely to get any easier. In February, the UNC system's board of governors passed a nearly 9 percent average tuition increase.