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Superintendents, Charter School Leaders, Chief Academic Officers, Public Information Officers and Communications Leaders,
We have some exciting news for high school seniors across the state – and you are one of the first to know! The UNC System, in partnership with the NC Department of Public Instruction and the NC Community College System, is launching a new pilot program – NC College Connect – that simplifies the college application process for qualifying students to select North Carolina institutions, allowing students to bypass the traditional application process.
As a leader in your district and in North Carolina, you are some of the first to learn about this program. Other partners in your schools and across the state will receive this email later today.
NC College Connect serves to expand access to higher education opportunities in North Carolina, especially among those students who may not have envisioned college in their future. We’ll need your help to educate students and their families about the availability and benefits of this program.
In early September, you will see this program announced publicly. To help spread the word, we will also share a toolkit with you which will include print-ready flyers, social media posts and graphics, answers to FAQs, and messaging for you to include in your communications to students and families this fall.
We’re providing these resources to help you explain this new opportunity to qualified students, and we’ll also have a landing page on CFNC.org that provides details to the public.
With plans to publicly announce the program in early September, we wanted to first give you an overview of the details you need to know.
- All North Carolina students entering their senior year with a weighted GPA of 2.8 and above will be offered a simplified application process to six participating UNC System colleges, along with your local community college. Please note that all eligible students will need to meet the UNC System admission requirements by June 2025 to attend one of the six participating UNC colleges.
- The six colleges participating in the pilot program include: Elizabeth City State University, Fayetteville State University, University of North Carolina at Asheville, University of North Carolina at Greensboro, University of North Carolina at Pembroke and Winston-Salem State University
- The NC Community College System maintains an open-door admission policy for all high school graduates.
- Students will be notified of their offer to apply to participating colleges through a mailed offer letter that includes a QR code directing them to more information on CFNC.org. There, they will be prompted to log in to their CFNC.org account and claim their spot at their select colleges.
- To officially apply to the NC College Connect institutions of their choice, students will need to fill out a shortened application on CFNC.org, either through a new or an existing account. All applications will be subject to usual application fees, unless students apply to participating colleges during College Application Week 2024. (Excluding UNC Greensboro.)
As always, we appreciate your partnership and thank you for being a key voice as this important program launches. We look forward to sharing more details about NC College Connect next month.
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