Less Than Half of North Carolina’s Community Colleges Are Transit Accessible
Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation Identifies Opportunities to Expand Access
Washington, DC, July 19, 2022 — The Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation (SHSF) released new data about the transit accessibility of North Carolina’s community and technical colleges. More than half a million North Carolina residents attend community and technical college across 207 campuses, but only 48% are transit accessible. An additional 17% — or 35 campuses — are less than five miles from an existing transit stop, but not yet connected.
Abigail Seldin, CEO of SHSF said, “Extending existing public transit lines to include community colleges is a commonsense, affordable investment. Our foundation’s unique, interactive map shows which community colleges are accessible by public transit and highlights opportunities for expansion. If we make car ownership – or gas affordability – a prerequisite for attending community or technical college, too many Americans will be left out of critical workforce training.”
President Thomas Stith III of North Carolina Community College System said, “The mission of the North Carolina Community College System is to open the door to high-quality, accessible educational opportunities that minimize barriers to post-secondary education, maximize student success, and develop a globally and multi-culturally competent workforce. Our colleges have recognized that transportation can be a significant barrier for students, especially in rural areas. They have taken action by providing shuttles, gas gift cards, purchasing vehicles to name a few – but more can be done. SHSF Public Transit Map highlights additional opportunities for our campuses to collaborate with local communities to ensure North Carolina residents can access the job training or higher education they need to achieve their education and career goals.”
“The data gathered by the SHSF will be invaluable to our members, helping them identify opportunities for new transportation demand management programs and services to address gaps in our public transit networks”, said David Straus, Executive Director of Association for Commuter Transportation. “To achieve healthy and sustainable communities we must focus on building an efficient, multimodal transportation system that serves and moves all people. “
Working students, parenting students, and students from low-income households are overrepresented at community and technical colleges. These students must manage “time poverty,” as they juggle family, work, and school commitments and virtually all, 99%, of community college students live off-campus.
Abigail Seldin said, “Community and technical colleges provide hands-on training for jobs like nursing and welding, teaching workforce skills that require students to be on-site. But for students with disabilities, or parents wrangling strollers, or the student rushing to class after work, distance between a stop and school is more than a matter of convenience. It may be the deciding variable between making it to school or not -- graduating or not."
SHSF’s interactive North Carolina map, additional data and methodology are available at www.shsf.pub/NC. The issue brief’s authors are Dr. Matthew Crespi, Dr. Ellie Bruecker, and Abigail Seldin.
About the Seldin/Haring-Smith Foundation (SHSF): SHSF’s mission is to expand access to public services and support accountability for abuse of authority within the United States. In 2021, the SHSF internal research team published new data on transit inaccessibility that inspired bipartisan federal legislation.
