Budget shortfall hits NC community colleges

North Carolina’s community colleges are facing a shortfall of nearly $70 million.

The state’s 58 community colleges set their budgets in two-year increments with each school’s funding based on enrollment the previous year. But this year, the Winston-Salem Journal reports that lawmakers in Raleigh, unable to agree on pay increases, failed to make any changes.

The result is community college leaders across the state are now being forced to stretch their budgets.

These fiscal challenges come as schools like Forsyth Tech in Winston-Salem are expecting record enrollments this year, leaving administrators there to consider cuts to sections of some courses and pairing back support services like tutoring.

In the short term, to avoid those measures, the college is upping class sizes and student-teacher ratios.