NC Wesleyan to offer courses towards bachelor's degree on campus at Wayne Community College

Leaders of both schools said the partnership will make four-year degrees more attainable for students in Wayne County who otherwise couldn’t pursue higher education.

The two schools commemorated the agreement in a Monday morning ceremony on WCC’s campus.

NC Wesleyan and Wayne Community College have maintained a partnership since 2017, when the university set up a satellite office in Goldsboro.

The new lease agreement gives NC Wesleyan access to multiple classrooms and a computer lab on WCC’s campus where students will be able to take courses on weekday evenings, along with the library and other academic resources.

"A lot of people are kind of scared to travel to other places, and so that was another problem with me with four year college," Abby Lee Lopez said. "I’m scared to go another place."

An aspiring nurse, Lopez is set to start at WCC this fall.

Lopez told WRAL News she’d always dreamed of pursuing a bachelor’s degree, but concerns about distance from home and finances prevented her from traveling to a four-year school.

The University of Mount Olive is the only four-year institution in Wayne County.

For students who can’t afford private school tuition and are unable to leave home, Wayne Community College would be one of their only options to keep learning after high school.

"A lot of our students want to go off to a university, but many don’t have the means sometimes for room and board," Wayne Community College President Patricia Pfeiffer said.

Pfeiffer told WRAL News that access to four-year classes on campus would create new opportunities for students in their area.

"Our students will be able to finish their degree at Wayne Community College, and then transfer directly into North Carolina Wesleyan University and take their classes right here in Wayne County and finish that degree," Pfeiffer said.

NC Wesleyan leaders said the lease agreement would help them expand their presence in eastern NC while also serving a vital need for increased access to higher education.

"They want to get their four-year degree, we’re providing them with another pathway in order to accomplish their goals," NC Wesleyan president Evan Duff said.

Lopez told WRAL News that the agreement could allow students like her to pursue their dreams without having to leave home first.

"It would be a really good impact, it could open their minds basically some more so they’d continue school," Lopez said. "Because a lot of people stop at two years and they don’t continue school, so it’d be a really good opportunity to go to [a] four-year [school]."