Support for Carolina Impact comes from our viewers and Wells Fargo (VO) Wells Fargo, has donated 390 million dollars... (Mom) Honey like I said, you get your own room.

(VO) to support housing affordability solutions across America.

Doing gets it done.

Wells Fargo, the bank of doing.

- [Announcer] This is a production of PBS Charlotte.

- [Amy] Tonight on a Special Carolina Impact, we explore the high price of higher education.

- I was paying upwards of about 60 grand per year in tuition.

- [Amy] Student debt has more than doubled to 1.7 trillion over the past two decades, but it doesn't have to be that way.

- I literally kept asking my counselor at the time, like, are you sure I'm not paying anything?

- [Amy] We'll show you the four year universities where tuition each semester costs hundreds, not thousands.

- We couldn't pass that up.

- [Amy] And learn about the higher priced private colleges that won't turn good students away just because they can't pay.

- It's a big number, and yet, we are committed to making that as affordable and to be as accessible to any student.

- [Amy] Central Piedmont shows how community colleges can also save students up to two years of tuition.

- What if your high school junior or senior could earn an associate degree tuition-free?

- [Amy] And the South Carolina High School program had students graduating career-ready with or without college.

- We just wanna have them turn their passion into their paycheck.

So we try to start that at this level.

- [Amy] Find out how you can fight the high cost of higher education right here, right now on Carolina Impact.

Good evening.

Thanks so much for joining us.

I'm Amy Burkett.

We start tonight with a college tuition program that almost sounds too good to be true.

A four-year diploma that's debt-free from UNC.

Just pick one of four campuses and pay only $500 a semester in tuition.

That's less than the cost of books alone at some schools.

Carolina Impact's Jeff Sonier and videographer Doug Stacker have more on what North Carolina calls The NC Promise.

- Yeah, Whether you're a student putting yourself through college or maybe a parent putting your kids through college.

Well, everybody wants the best possible education, but everybody also wants the best possible bang for their educational buck.

So where do you find both?

Well, maybe right here in North Carolina.

(students chanting) It's Family Weekend at Western Carolina University, which means a big tailgate party before the game (festive music) and a big crowd here at the game.

But at Western, there's more to cheer than just football.

(festive music) Because every student in this stadium (festive music) and every parent at this pregame party, (festive music) if they live in North Carolina, they're all paying only $500 a semester for their college tuition.

Even if they're out of state students.

Tuition's only 2,500 a semester.

- We couldn't pass that up.

- [Jeff] The Morrow family is here from Florida visiting their son, Trevor, who's here at the tailgate somewhere, and their high school daughter, Addison is here too, checking out Western Carolina for herself.

- She might be a future WCU student.

We've been walking her around campus introducing her to some of Trevor's friends and she got to see the dorms yesterday.

- They were looking at mostly Florida schools at first until they discovered the NC Promise program here in the high mountains of color.

- Oh, boy.

I mean, we had to plan very early on even for them to just be able to go to college.

So finding out that we could send our kids out of state and here, it's just been really affordable for us.

Thousands, thousands of keepers.

I mean really, really.

- You feel like the most popular guy on campus when you tell those parents it's only $500 a semester.

- I get a lot of smiles, that's for sure.

- Mike Langford is director of Admissions at Western Carolina, one of four UNC campuses that are part of the NC Promise program, all offering the same $500 tuition that's bringing more students to college and bringing down the cost of college.

- Sure, the $500 tuition has allowed lots of people to take a look at us.

It could be this cost savings that helped you buy a first house.

It could be our first car.

But we have seen our diversity numbers go up, we've seen our first gen numbers go up.

Across the board, it has helped raise the tide of all different types of students here at Western.

- Well, I'm just pleased to not have to worry about him being in debt when he graduates.

I mean, the sheer fact that we're getting to send him to college for the price that we are is wonderful.

(students cheering) - [Jeff] It's a similar story here at Fayetteville State and Elizabeth City State and UNC Pembroke.

The other NC Promise schools were that promise of a debt-free UNC degree is especially attractive to first and their family students.

- There's only two of us in my whole family's been to college.

- Really?

- Yes, it's me and my aunt.

And she graduated from UNC Pembroke as well.

- [Jeff] And second time around students who couldn't afford college the first time.

- I remember waking up one morning and I was like, why am I here?

I would've been on the hook for probably about $25,000 worth of loans.

Because of NC Promise, I have been able to pay for my education completely out of pocket.

- [Jeff] That's why Hannah Irving made the switch after a semester at a big out-of-state university to Pembroke instead, a small town campus with smaller classes to go along with their much smaller tuition bill.

At some point you must have said, there's gotta be a catch.

- That's exactly what I thought.

I was like, there's no way.

There's no way this is $500 per semester.

And because it's a smaller institution, I've been given opportunities to connect with my professors and I'm not paying an arm and a leg for it.

I'm able to really immerse myself in the college experience without having that kind of cloud of debt hanging over my head.

- $500 A semester, we just kind stop looking.

I mean, you can't beat $500 a semester.

- Nick McNeill says for him, picking Pembroke was a family decision, not just because of its price, but also because of its history.

- We're considered the most diverse school in the UNC school system.

I'm Native American, so we have that 12% American Indian population.

I'm part of the Lumbee tribe.

So it's nice coming here and seeing people like me, who act the same as I do and have the same beliefs and core values.

- [Jeff] But Nick adds, it didn't take long to also see Pembroke's educational value compared to other colleges.

- Yeah, I have some friends at different universities and their first semester at these other universities, their overall cost is my four years.

That's just the first semester.

(gentle music) - Education is your path forward.

But when you can't afford it, you can't afford it no matter how great it is.

And for us, some of our students, $500 a semester makes the difference.

- [Jeff] Chancellor Dr. Robin Cummings, who's also a member of the Lumbee tribe, adds that at Pembroke, NC Promise offers not just the promise of an affordable education, but also a high quality education.

To a population that once had access to neither.

- In the past, we didn't have a seat at the table or a voice in the room.

To me, you feel responsible.

And what we're finding is once they get that and they say, You know what?

I can run this race.

Then they go on to medical school, to law school, to engineering school.

They go out and just get this great job and we hear all these great success stories of how they're doing out in the working place to raise that bar, and education is the way to do that.

(gentle music) - [Jeff] And whether it's homecoming here at Pembroke, or Family Weekend at Western, a challenge is sharing what these NC Promise families already know.

- It's hardly even comparable.

I mean, it's incredible.

- [Jeff] Incredible about a program that so many other families don't know.

- It's been frustrating for me.

I got in the community and I'm giving a talk to the Kiwanis, to whoever and I mentioned NC Promise and blank stares and well, what's that all about?

- [Speaker] And because UBC is an NC Promise School, I'll graduate with a world class education without a mountain of debt.

- I wanna get away from just saying NC Promise because the average person on the street doesn't know what NC Promise is.

So I say we should be asking the question, ask me about $500 a semester tuition.

(gentle music) - Now at all four NC Promise schools, other costs vary for things like housing and books and food, but the promise itself is the same.

$500 a semester for tuition, period.

Amy.

- Thank you so much, Jeff.

We've got more on the NC Promise program on our website at pbscharlotte.org, including links to all four UNC schools that offer that $500 semester tuition.

Well, the average student debt hovers around $30,000 according to the US News data.

It's something that's been in the news a lot lately with President Joe Biden recently announcing plans to forgive or reduce student loan debt for millions of borrowers.

But across the nation, the overall cost of higher education continues to soar.

Carolina Impact's Jason Terzis takes a look at how two local private colleges offer help to those in need.

Inflation in the US is the highest it's been in four decades and new numbers out today give no reassurance.

It will let up soon.

- [Jason] It's been at the forefront of the new cycle for months now and a central issue in this year's midterm elections.

- Inflation is still above 8%.

And at a 40-year high with prices rising for housing, medical care, new cars, air travel, and more.

- [Jason] Also on that list, higher education.

And it's been rising at roughly 8% a year for decades.

- At the end of the day, you have to realize that colleges are a profitable business and they're gonna work like a business.

- [Jason] Many students see college education as the golden ticket to the American dream.

The prevailing line of thinking is that getting a bachelor's degree will lead to financial prosperity.

But is it prosperity or just debt?

Over the last 30 years, the cost of attending colleges more than doubled.

Rising eight times faster than working wages.

According to data from the Federal Reserve, student loan debt currently stands at $1.75 trillion exceeding the value of outstanding car loans, which is 1.37 trillion and credit card debt, which is at 820 million.

The only debt Americans carry that's higher than student loans is home mortgages, which is over 10 trillion.

- There's no doubt that nationally, there's an important conversation happening between experts and educators and families on what's affordable and what's not.

We've seen higher education, the cost of higher ed rising steadily over generations and it has typically risen faster than inflation.

- [Jason] At Davidson College, a lot of that conversation focuses on getting creative when it comes to reducing costs or in some cases, actually making it debt-free for students.

- So in our admissions process, we are knee blind, meaning we do not take a family's ability to pay into account when we make the admission decision.

- [Jason] A year's tuition at the private college, including student activity fee runs over $57,000.

A standard double room is just under 8,000 and an all-access meal plan is 7,800, add it all up and it's nearly $73,000.

- It actually costs us more to educate a student than the full sticker price.

I'm a full paying parent of a college student elsewhere and I know it's a big number.

And yet we are committed to making that as affordable and to be as accessible to any student.

- [Jason] Davidson though is part of a growing number of institutions, eliminating student loans altogether.

Which means instead of students borrowing money and having to pay it back, usually with interest, they will meet 100% of undergraduates' demonstrated need for financial aid.

- Because if a family sees a sticker price, that is shocking and doesn't know about our financial aid policies and the generous donors in this program called the Davidson Trust, they're likely not to apply.

- [Jason] Established 15 years ago and backed by a 25 million donation from class of '57 alumnus, Ted Baker.

The Davidson Trust enables some students to attend the college debt-free.

- From a financial perspective, we're able to make this commitment because of the generosity of our donors, those who support Davidson through our endowment through annual giving foundations that make it possible for us to do this as well.

- I honestly didn't believe it at first.

I was like, there's no way I have to pay nothing.

- [Jason] D'mycal Foreman had never heard of Davidson before applying.

Growing up in Louisiana, he studied hard in high school, got excellent grades and high test scores.

- And that's when I found out about QuestBridge, which is a national organization that helps low income students get into prestigious colleges.

- [Jason] QuestBridge is a nonprofit that connects lower income students with partner colleges.

Davidson and the Davidson Trust are part of that partnership.

D'mycal was one of 6,000 students to receive a QuestBridge scholarship out of more than 100,000 applicants.

- I literally kept asking my counselor at the time like, "Are you sure I'm not paying anything?

Is there any type of like interest like at all?

What is really going on?"

He was like, "No, you literally have to pay nothing."

- [Jason] D'mycal is doing his part as well, working two different jobs.

A sophomore is studying English communications and theater, and someday wants to get into film directing.

- It's amazing, honestly.

I can't thank God enough for this opportunity, like I'm truly blessed for to be here.

- [Jeff] In Charlotte, Queens University is a little smaller than Davidson with about 1,400 students.

It's also a little less expensive, but the school also gets creative when trying to ease the financial burden on those who can't afford it.

- Just submitting an application, we will automatically consider them for scholarships.

- [Jason] While they don't have a full fledged trust like Davidson, 98% of Queens students receive some sort of financial aid.

- Almost every student here at Queens gets an academic merit scholarship.

We are really looking to celebrate the work students have done in high school and about 70% of our students will receive additional aid on top of that academic merit scholarship.

- [Jason] Queens also has a presidential scholarship, which is offered to about 40 students per year and covers 100% of tuition costs.

There's also the Charlotte Talent Initiative.

- And so that's a partnership between Queens and corporate sponsors.

Our first two sponsors are Lowe's and Ally Financial and these are completely full ride scholarships.

And so students who are coming from the the most resource, the most under-resourced backgrounds have access to this opportunity.

- [Jason] And three years ago, Queens launched the Royal Up program, which is a partnership with Central Piedmont Community College.

- So students can start at Central Piedmont and they'll have a Central Piedmont advisor and a Queens advisor.

And they can spend a couple of years at Central Piedmont.

It's a little bit more affordable, get some requirements out of the way.

They can make a seamless transfer, all of those credits will come over.

- [Jason] Instead of deciding which college to attend and then figuring out how to pay for it, officials at both Queens and Davidson say that prospective students and their families should make figuring out the financial piece part of the application process so that you know exactly what you're getting into and that sticker shock may not be quite so bad.

for Carolina Impact, I'm Jason Terzis reporting.

- Thank you so much, Jason.

Both Queens and Davidson say that by offering these various types of scholarship programs, they're able to attract a more diverse set of students ethnically as well as socioeconomically.

Well, what if your high school junior or senior could earn an associate's degree tuition-free while they earn their high school diploma?

In Mecklenburg County, Middle College High Schools provide students the opportunity to finish their last two years of high school while taking college courses for free through Central Piedmont Carolina impacts.

Rochelle Metzger explains why programs like this get a lot of attention.

- [Tuttle] Come on in, Find your seat.

- [Rochelle] One by one, high school students file into Mrs. Tuttle's English class.

- So with that in mind, I just wanna reiterate the things you must include.

- [Rochelle] A typical classroom by the looks of it with shelves full of textbooks and inspirational quotes on the wall.

Just outside, the hallway is lined with bulletin boards and announcements, but this is actually middle college high school and these 11th and 12th graders are getting a taste of the college experience while they finish their graduation requirements.

Here on Central Piedmont Community College's Levine Campus and Matthews, students take high school courses and earn college credits at the same time.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools launched North Carolina's first middle college program on Central Piedmont's Cato campus in 2007.

Fast forward to fall 2022, nearly 800 students are enrolled in middle college across four campuses.

The coursework is rigorous but worth it for students who graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate degree.

- CMS does cover textbooks and fees and with the tuition being waived, it really is no cost to the students.

- [Rochelle] Middle college is capped at 100 students per grade level per campus.

The wait list for Levine is about 60 students.

Applicants must have a 2.8 GPA or higher and a clean disciplinary record.

- Everyone's on equal playing field as far as we don't select who gets in.

Anyone who has a minimum GPA can enter the school choices lottery through CMS.

- [Rochelle] Erik Weghorst teaches honors and advanced placement level math and personal finance.

- [Erik] These student expectations are higher here than in a typical school.

We are able to meet that though because our classes are a hair longer.

- Bora Leilabady is one of his students.

- During my 12th grade year, I'm taking a lot of college courses that are scientific like chemistry and biology and mathematics courses.

- [Rochelle] Leilabady's father is a physics professor and says he appreciates how much attention the school gives to math and STEM studies.

- And one thing that this school here has done is develop their math ability to beyond my expectation.

- Okay.

- [Rochelle] English teacher Kim Tuttle says the difference is their approach to teaching.

- It's more student focused and individualized because the key thing is our classes are smaller, which allows us the opportunity to make our lessons fit every single solitary student.

Do you remember watching, was it CNN Student News with Carl Azuz?

- Yeah.

I knew I'd be in an environment that would fit me a little bit better with things that focus on me a little bit more and it would set me ahead.

- [Rochelle] 16-year-old Rylee Stocks is a self-described introvert who felt overwhelmed at a large high school.

- It's just easier for me to talk.

I talk a little bit more.

I interact a little bit more with people.

- Tuttle says her oldest daughter found her voice at the middle college, but as the program has helped her entire family.

- As a parent whose daughter successfully completed the middle college program, that's two years, especially on a teacher's salary, has two years of a college degree that we didn't have to pay for, so it's a blessing.

- [Rochelle] Dr. Danielle Edwards is president of the Levine Campus Parent Teacher Organization.

Her daughter, Nina is a senior who plans to attend Bowie State University next fall.

- She's actually leaving with close to 40 college credits.

- Edwards says middle college is the best bank for your buck and she's right.

Graduates heading to college with enough credits under their belts to skip an entire year, sometimes two, can save thousands of dollars.

For example, tuition alone for a two-year associate degree from Central Piedmont costs about $6,500.

While two years of tuition living on campus at UNC Charlotte will cost over $47,000.

That's a savings of more than $40,000.

For parents and students considering a middle college program, Tuttle suggests seeing the school in person.

- Don't push and don't force your child to attend a middle college program if they're not ready.

'Cause there are kids who are not ready for that adult responsibility.

- I would say 100%, give it a shot, but know you're gonna have to work.

Sometimes, it'll be easy like those little weeks, but then oftentimes, you'll get just a bunch of work thrown on you and a bunch of responsibility that you will have to step up to.

- [Rochelle] And students are stepping up with a positive track record.

- The graduation rates, in the upper 90% with median and the middle colleges have 100% graduation rate and that's incredible.

- [Rochelle] Hill ads that across the state, there's been a shift away from middle colleges to early colleges where students are on campus starting in the ninth grade.

Central Piedmont is set to open its first early college in fall 2023.

- There is a skills gap now.

In Mecklenburg County, in North Carolina, across the country.

But we're hoping that having the early college on central campus will open the door to all of our AAS pathways, any of them that we offer on campus.

And then students can be career-ready when they graduate.

- With many benefits to offer and higher education costs only getting higher, there's little doubt that innovative high schools will continue to attract students looking to save time and money.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Rochelle Metzger.

- Thank you, Rochelle.

During the 21-22 academic year, students in CPCC's Middle College earned more than 19,000 credit hours saving families an estimated $973,000 in tuition costs.

Well finally, tonight, how do you prepare students for the rapidly-changing workforce without attending college?

And in Lancaster County, South Carolina educators saw the evolution coming more than a decade ago after the loss of manufacturing and mill jobs.

They decided to launch a program preparing students for careers right out of high school.

That concept grew into a curriculum providing job readiness training to 900 students from the county's four high schools each semester.

Carolina Impact's Bea Thompson shows us how this rural area does it.

- [Bea] Listen closely and you'll hear the sound of futures and careers very good being made.

♪ Teach the children well.

- Because it's hands on and when I did it was pretty fun.

- I grew up in the salon, so I just like being around like that type of stuff.

- We just want to have them turn their passion into their paycheck, so we try to start that at this level.

- [Bea] Take a good look at the modern approach to preparing high school students for not just the work world but their chosen careers.

It's been more than a decade that the Lancaster County School District Career Center has been aiding students in that county's four high schools in defining just what they want to do in life while giving them firsthand experience.

With something Lancaster County Firefighters knew they needed to be a part of.

And on the ground floor.

- We created this program to where we can train young men and women to go out into our volunteer fire system, but also get them ready, career-ready for firefighting jobs.

- You can come in here not knowing anything about firefighting and leave as a firefighter two certified person by South Carolina State Fire.

- [Bea] Since they started the program.

26 young men and women have gone on to become full-time firefighters all across the state.

For others, it provides a path to continue a family tradition.

- Saving lives, that's always what I wanted to do.

I'm in the EMT program also.

That's just what my dad does, that's what he's been doing.

So that's what I want to do when I grow up.

- What makes it different is is the hands on.

And we have excellent instructors, expert instructors in every area that we have, every pathway that we have.

- That's the thigh and that's the leg right here.

- [Bea] Currently, the hands on training helps in two ways.

Money provided by Lancaster Fire and Rescue allows the construction program students to build the firefighter training facility on campus.

Where those students will go through different fire and rescue simulations.

- It's not just about running into burning buildings.

We save a lot of lives on the other side of burning buildings.

- The misconception is that this building is just for people that are not going to college.

Well, that's wrong.

- It's hands on.

I love stuff I could do hands on, not on a computer or anything.

It's just all around the fun job to do.

- [Bea] The programs cover everything from the construction field to hospitality, medical to health sciences, law enforcement, manufacturing, and business along with others.

In fact, according to statistics from Indeed.com, training and certification for 17 of their top 30 occupations is currently offered at the career center.

- This building is the best kept secret in Lancaster County.

It makes learning relevant.

- Four and 2/8 - [Bill] Kids wanna know, why do I have to know math?

Why do I have to know science?

Well, this building can show you why.

- Where some programs, you might get like basic level learning and then you have to go out to college, they don't do that here.

(lively music) - I just learned how to do this actually, but I couldn't even use a curl iron before I got in this class actually.

- [Bea] Each program's participants are provided with the tools of their trade from firefighters' heavy equipment to the hairstylist wigs and products.

And the savings for those students in these certified programs?

- The school pretty much provides everything for them, even the mannequins that they're using, the kits and all.

So they save about 20 to $25,000 of debt by taking it in high school.

- [Bea] And for these students, less debt allows them to turn their training into dollars.

It means if they choose to, they can literally get the ground running.

- Our students are licensed about a month or two before graduation and they can go into the salon.

I actually have a lot of students now that are assisting in salons waiting to get their license.

So as soon as they're licensed, they go behind the chair.

- So I feel like I can just graduate with my license.

That way, I can go straight to the work.

- [Bea] Many small towns have lost the mills and manufacturing jobs that sustain them in eras gone by.

But in Lancaster County, South Carolina, they're preparing their next generation of students for the changing workforce.

♪ Teach your children well.

- [Bea] By teaching the children well.

For Carolina Impact, I'm Bea Thompson.

- Thank you, Bea.

We hope this Special Carolina Impact has given you some solutions to help discover options to defeat the rising costs of higher education.

Thanks so much for joining us.

We always appreciate your time and look forward to seeing you back here again next time on Carolina Impact.

Goodnight, my friends.

(lively music) - [Announcer] A production of PBS Charlotte.

Support for Carolina Impact comes from our viewers and Wells Fargo (VO) Wells Fargo, has donated 390 million dollars... (Mom) Honey like I said, you get your own room.

(VO) to support housing affordability solutions across America.

Doing gets it done.

Wells Fargo, the bank of doing.