Students at Western Carolina University using the NC Promise program - which lowers tuition to $500 per semester - were happy to share what the program meant to them at an event on campus this week. The UNC System is promoting NC Promise after a study found only 14 percent of North Carolinians knew about it.
Noah Crawford of Rutherfordton is the first member of his family to go to college, and was one of the Western students who shared with UNC system president Margaret Spellings how NC Promise made it possible for him to attend college.
He says that he worked over 40 hours during high school to pay for his car, insurance and other expenses.
“My parents didn’t go to college so it was a never a direct option for me. I never really had any persuasion to go to college,” says Crawford. “It was always just as long as you are making money and you have got your priorities straight - you’re fine.”
Crawford is currently in the WCU Marching Band. He is using his background working in electrical work with his dad to inform his degree in construction management.
Matt Opinski, WCU Student Government Association president, shared that in a survey 83 percent of WCU freshman class said affordability was either the single most important factor or a large factor in deciding where to go to college.
He also shared how NC Promise has helped him personally. Opinski says that he pays for all of his expenses through financial aid.
“I am on my own financially completely nor do my parents and my family even understand the process to help me through college,” he says.
Transfer students also make a significant percentage of the NC Promise program at WCU. Marcy Sammons, a transfer student from Gastonia, and Gabriel Pope, a transfer student from Raleigh, also shared their stories at the event.
Interim Chancellor Alison Morrison-Shetlar and Spellings attended the event to listen to their experiences.
Spellings reportedly resigned as president of the UNC System today.
