The State of Higher Education in Charlotte

[KJHburg]

This is great and many of my ECU undergrad friends were first generational college students and later graduates.

From the Biz Journal:

Bank of America Corp. (NYSE: BAC) is making a $2.5 million investment in UNC Charlotte to support upward mobility efforts.

""About $1.5 million will go toward the University Transition Opportunities Program, a 35-year-old program that helps underrepresented students transition from high school to college. Incoming students can come to campus six weeks before the fall semester starts — living in dorms, taking classes and building networks. Participants finish the six-week period with seven academic credits, said Sharon Gaber, UNC Charlotte chancellor.  Gaber said many of the UTOP participants are first-generation college students. The program helps them acclimate to the university. UNC Charlotte, with the additional funds, plans to add 300 students to the program over five years.  "We're delighted to have the talent that we're able to recruit there," said Kieth Cockrell, Charlotte market president at BofA. "Our level of interest with the university is truly intertwined with its continued growth and really the growth that we need to provide the skills for today and tomorrow."  Cockrell said BofA is continually looking to fill technical or analytical roles, finance-based jobs and engineering openings.  BofA estimates it has invested more than $10.6 million in UNC Charlotte over the years. That includes professorships and academic programming. The bank provided funds to start the Applied Technology Program Women in Business & Technology Scholarship. It also provided funds and volunteers to help improve the university's Institute for Social Capital. Just providing funds is not enough, Cockrell said.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/06/16/bank-of-america-uncc-donation-upward-mobility.html

[rancenc]

New addition to CPCC's main campus in Elizabeth.

https://businessnc.com/charlottes-cpcc-opens-113m-parr-center/

[KJHburg]

so happy for Hickory to have this new campus of App State in town.  Hopefully 1000 students by 2023.

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/appalachian-state-university-looking-expand-campus-hickory/MY3XDL5PPFDVBJ2PXGPOKBUGZE/

[kayman]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

so happy for Hickory to have this new campus of App State in town.  Hopefully 1000 students by 2023.

https://www.wsoctv.com/news/local/appalachian-state-university-looking-expand-campus-hickory/MY3XDL5PPFDVBJ2PXGPOKBUGZE/

Yeah it's on US 321 corridor.  I saw it in February when I was there to visit the Hickory City Walk urban trail.  It's a good thing for that part of the Metro Charlotte area. 

Edited July 19, 2022 by kayman

[JRCLT]

Yeah it's on US 321 corridor.  I saw it in February when I was there to visit the Hickory City Walk urban trail.  It's a good thing for that part of the Metro Charlotte area. 

Really not sure why it officially isn’t part of the metro when it really should be.

[Reverie39]

Aren't MSA's due to be re-evaluated soon? I heard this during discussion about the Triangle, which many (including me) believe should be one single MSA rather than two. Same goes for Triad. I know they use commuting metrics to determine this... I wonder if NC will see some major MSA boundary changes in the next couple years.

[kermit]

23 hours ago, Reverie39 said:

Aren't MSA's due to be re-evaluated soon? I heard this during discussion about the Triangle, which many (including me) believe should be one single MSA rather than two. Same goes for Triad. I know they use commuting metrics to determine this... I wonder if NC will see some major MSA boundary changes in the next couple years.

There are big questions looming on how to treat WFH (and other remote places) in commuting stats. We might see an across the board decline in MSA sizes due to pandemic-era changes in commuting patterns.

Edited July 21, 2022 by kermit

[SydneycartonII]

Maybe Duke will do the same thing.
 

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article263870812.html

 

 

Edited July 29, 2022 by SydneycartonII

[Rufus]

2 hours ago, SydneycartonII said:

Maybe Duke will do the same thing.
 

https://www.charlotteobserver.com/news/business/article263870812.html

 

 

Honestly I hope not. Again, there was a pretty great program just up the road at UNC Charlotte, and now the market is saturated by the addition of USC, Wake Forest, Northeastern, and now UNCCH. It just doesn't feel right. What if UNC Charlotte were to open a satellite school in the Triangle? How would those universities respond? From what I am hearing, many UNC Charlotte leaders are not happy with this, and it cuts their success off at the knees. 

[JRCLT]

Duke a private institution I could have seen doing this…but UNCCH? Pushing into UNCC’s area while both being in the UNC system is off.

[KJHburg]

I think UNC Chapel Hill's program is very expensive more like an executive program.   https://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/programs/mba/charlotte-executive-mba/

UNCC MBA 1996  and I am an executive of several firms myself with my UNCC MBA

[kermit]

The UNC System (not individual campuses) must approve all new programs before they can begin to operate. Part of that approval includes a certification that the new program won’t compete with or canabalize any existing programs elsewhere in the system including feedback from any campuses potentially affected. Given this one of two things must have happened:  a) Chapel Hill  emphasized in its application that its executive program in Charlotte was substantially different from anything offered at UNCC — and UNCC B-school officials agreed with that statement; or b) the system didn't give a crap about impacts on UNCC and just rubber stamped the application from the flagship (which would be contrary to current policy but happens more than you would think).

If the programs are similar then I would be very surprised if there was not pushback from UNCC, so I think the most likely answer is some form of b). Having said that, I have no idea about what the new program proposes to do, so it may in-fact be substantially different than anything offered by UNCC.

Edited July 30, 2022 by kermit

[CharlotteWkndBuzz]

Hopefully the leadership at Charlotte pushes back against this. It’s def B. The mothership doing mothership things. Plus, why would the state want to use taxpayer dollars to cater to another MBA program and have the two schools in the same system competing against each other in the same city. 

[kermit]

29 minutes ago, CharlotteWkndBuzz said:

Hopefully the leadership at Charlotte pushes back against this.

If the program is being advertised then it is too late for that. The new Chapel Hill MBA program has already been approved.

[Blue_Devil]

The UNC program much like Duke’s exec program are both top in the nation. They are catering to high end bankers in the Charlotte region that are willing to fly to NYC or Chicago for programs, who would not even be looking at UNC Charlotte. 
 

US News MBA Rankings:

Duke - 12

UNC Chapel Hill - 19

UNC Charlotte - unranked

[Blue_Devil]

The UNC program much like Duke’s exec program are both top in the nation. They are catering to high end bankers in the Charlotte region that are willing to fly to NYC or Chicago for programs, who would not even be looking at UNC Charlotte. 
 

US News MBA Rankings:

Duke - 12

UNC Chapel Hill - 19

UNC Charlotte - unranked

edit: double post

Edited July 30, 2022 by Blue_Devil

[Rufus]

2 hours ago, Blue_Devil said:

The UNC program much like Duke’s exec program are both top in the nation. They are catering to high end bankers in the Charlotte region that are willing to fly to NYC or Chicago for programs, who would not even be looking at UNC Charlotte. 
 

US News MBA Rankings:

Duke - 12

UNC Chapel Hill - 19

UNC Charlotte - unranked

 

Sure, that's the full-time MBA program, but the part-time MBA that is designed for those with jobs or other responsibilities, ranks UNC Charlotte #69. 

 

And  I mean, rankings only do so much since most them benefit the haves over the have-nots. It suggests that Duke and UNCCH are "better" than UNC Charlotte, even though we all know that these rankings are extremely biased towards those who can afford to pay into them. UNC Charlotte is a fantastic university, with a great business school that has been providing key employees and services to this city that has only helped bolster the growth that we have all seen. I would even chance to say that if UNC Charlotte didn't exist, this city would not be where it is now. 

[Blue_Devil]

53 minutes ago, Rufus said:

Sure, that's the full-time MBA program, but the part-time MBA that is designed for those with jobs or other responsibilities, ranks UNC Charlotte #69. 

 

And  I mean, rankings only do so much since most them benefit the haves over the have-nots. It suggests that Duke and UNCCH are "better" than UNC Charlotte, even though we all know that these rankings are extremely biased towards those who can afford to pay into them. UNC Charlotte is a fantastic university, with a great business school that has been providing key employees and services to this city that has only helped bolster the growth that we have all seen. I would even chance to say that if UNC Charlotte didn't exist, this city would not be where it is now. 

So you made my point. Banking middle management looking to make it to the exec level, who can afford to pay for it and want the connections UNC Chapel Hill provides. These people were not looking at UNC Charlotte. 

[CLT2014]

IMO competition is always a good thing. The Belk MBA program has a strong value prop and will continue to thrive. The programs have enough differences too from the schedule to the price to the amount of debt you might need to take on to the concentrations to pace of program that people will figure out what's right for them.

 

Edited July 31, 2022 by CLT2014

[kermit]

On 7/29/2022 at 8:55 PM, kermit said:

The UNC System (not individual campuses) must approve all new programs before they can begin to operate. Part of that approval includes a certification that the new program won’t compete with or canabalize any existing programs elsewhere in the system including feedback from any campuses potentially affected. Given this one of two things must have happened:  a) Chapel Hill  emphasized in its application that its executive program in Charlotte was substantially different from anything offered at UNCC — and UNCC B-school officials agreed with that statement; or b) the system didn't give a crap about impacts on UNCC and just rubber stamped the application from the flagship (which would be contrary to current policy but happens more than you would think).

If the programs are similar then I would be very surprised if there was not pushback from UNCC, so I think the most likely answer is some form of b). Having said that, I have no idea about what the new program proposes to do, so it may in-fact be substantially different than anything offered by UNCC.

So the word is that  the UNC Chapel Hill MBA program in Charlotte was the idea of several legislators in the NCGA. They thought it would be a good idea so they pressured the UNC System president to create the program without going through the typical proposal and approval process. It appears this program got no vetting from the system or local campuses as is required by policy. This was a total breakdown of normal order, and, as usual, UNCC gets screwed.

Edited August 25, 2022 by kermit

[bojo1991jon]

Good post guys!

Edited August 25, 2022 by bojo1991jon

[kermit]

Johnson and Wales teeters on the brink (enrollment down 55%, no president for over a year). Exploring a shift to nursing edu, but JWU has also been shutting down other regional campuses (Denver).

https://www.bizjournals.com/charlotte/news/2022/08/26/johnson-wales-university-jwu-campus-crossroads.html

Edited August 26, 2022 by kermit

[rancenc]

Great news for Catawba College!

https://independenttribune.com/news/local/catawba-college-receives-anonymous-42-million-gift/article_b81bf8f0-51b1-11ed-9a67-f7a09eb0ab21.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

[KJHburg]

A rising UNC Charlotte is great for our region. 

https://charlotteregion.com/news/2022/11/09/investor-news/unc-charlotte-earns-high-international-marks-for-research-academic-excellence/

MBA grad UNCC or UNC Charlotte is my preferred names of my alma mater #2 

[rancenc]

Llvingstone College embarking on a multi million dollar infrastructure improvements throughout the campus

https://www.wbtv.com/2023/02/13/livingstone-college-secures-7m-upgrades-residence-halls/