With focus on training new nurses and doctors, NC officials hear update on millions in new state spending
North Carolina's booming — and aging — population has been exacerbating an shortage of nurses and doctors, an issue state lawmakers are working to address.
On Wednesday, as a legislative oversight committee heard updates on new construction projects happening across the UNC System, a theme quickly emerged: Much of the money lawmakers have given universities in recent years has been to build or renovate buildings aimed at training more nurses and doctors.
Among the updates they heard Wednesday:
- A new nursing school at UNC-Chapel Hill will allow enrollment to grow by 50% once complete. Construction on the $98 million project began in January, and the new nursing school is expected to open in 2026.
- A massive expansion of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University will allow it to train 120 doctors each year, up from 86 currently. Construction on the $265 million building is expected to begin next year and finish in 2027.
- A new health sciences center at UNC-Pembroke will train students studying everything from optometry to physical therapy, behavioral health or nutrition. Construction on the $91 million project is expected to begin in 2026 and finish in 2028.
In addition to projects directly addressing health care training needs, the committee also received updates on two projects at N.C. State University related to pharmaceuticals and other STEM training.
The school will receive $140 million to renovate Dabney Hall and its chemistry labs. And another $187 million will go toward building a new STEM building, "with a focus on chemistry, biochemistry and biotechnology."
Both of those projects are expected to be finished in late 2026 or early 2027.
Debt decreasing
The state's biggest capital expense in last year's budget wasn't on any single building or project, however — it was paying down debt. Conservative lawmakers changed the way construction funding works starting with the 2019 budget. Now a certain amount of debt gets paid off first, before any other projects can be funded.
Travis Allen, a legislative fiscal analyst, told lawmakers Wednesday that as of the start of this fiscal year the state had $7.6 billion in debt. At the current rate, he said, it should be paid off by the 2039-40 budget.
In the 2023 budget, which was more than $30 billion in total, lawmakers spent $1.2 billion on debt service, $753 million on state agency construction and repairs, $935 million on UNC System construction and repairs, and $1.1 billion on giving funds to local governments or nonprofits, a type of spending often called pork-barrel spending.
