NC Voices: Working on it
Wednesday, January 31 2007
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Only about a third of all working age adults in North Carolina have any kind of college degree, and yet the five fastest growing occupations in the state all require a post-secondary education. Many adults are doing the math and returning to school years after they thought they were done with tests and homework. Jessica Jones reports for our series "North Carolina Voices: Considering College."
Additional sources for information heard in this report:
- One third of working age adults in North Carolina has some kind of college degree. See p.19 here
- The five fastest growing occupations in the state require a post-secondary education. See p. 38 here
- The number of young students has been growing more rapidly than the number of older students, but this pattern is expected to shift. Between 1990 and 2004, the enrollment of students under age 25 increased by 31 percent. Enrollment of people 25 and over rose by 17 percent. From 2004 to 2014, the National Center on Education Statistics projects a rise of 11 percent in enrollments of persons under 25, and an increase of 15 percent in the number 25 and over. More here
- 33.5% of all students in college in NC (public and private 4-year schools, public 2-year schools, private 2-year schools and seminary/bible colleges) are 25 or older. Data from here
- 48% of college students in North Carolina are enrolled at community colleges. Find out more here
- The North Carolina Community College System serves almost four times as many students as the total enrollment of the 16 campuses of the University of North Carolina. See p. 31 here
- More than half of adult college students work at least 35 hours per week See p.7 of report here
- Registered nursing is the fastest growing occupation in North Carolina Read p.28 here
