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NC Reconnect, launched four years ago. What have colleges learned?

North Carolina leaders, education stakeholders, and representatives from N.C. community colleges gathered in Greensboro April 8-9 for the John M. Belk Endowment’s (JMBE) third annual adult learner convening.

The event focused on the future of higher education and how community colleges can continue to be a place of maximum opportunity for adult learners, or students over the age of 25.

“When we started this in 2023, our hope was just to elevate the dialogue of why adult learners are the future of higher education,” said MC Belk Pilon, JMBE’s President and Board Chair. “We never could have imagined how this has unfolded. We have seen this topic spread across our state and the country.”

In 2021, JMBE launched NC Reconnect, an initiative focused on helping North Carolina’s community colleges engage, reenroll, and credential adult learners. The initiative also addresses the critical economic need in the state to fill current jobs. NC Reconnect aims to “improve workforce opportunities and quality of life for adult learners across the state.”

The statewide effort started with five community colleges and now includes a total of 24.

NC Reconnect cohorts. Courtesy of JMBE and the Belk Center

Broadly, NC Reconnect is an outreach campaign to engage students who previously attended one of the 24 schools. Colleges receive direct student outreach from InsideTrack, along with marketing support from VisionPoint Marketing and Crisp Communications. Institutions also receive funding that can be used in various ways, including outreach events, scholarships, technology, hiring staff to support reenrolled students, and partnership expansion.

As many as eight partners, including the Belk Center for Community College Leadership and Research, myFutureNC, and the N.C. Community College System (NCCCS), collaborate to support the efforts of NC Reconnect.

Since its launch, NC Reconnect has reached out to 42,971 adult learners who stopped out at one of the colleges listed above. Nearly 3,000 adult learners have returned to continue their education as of spring 2025.

The NCCCS has also doubled down on its efforts. Since launching two adult learner pilot programs – including NC Reconnect – the number of adult learners enrolled in N.C. community colleges increased by 10%, according to a 2023 report.

When NC Reconnect first started, Pilon told colleges that “it just takes one,” meaning, reaching and reconnecting with just one adult learner is worth the effort.

“We never would have dreamed that over the course of these cohorts, we would have nearly 3,000 adult learners reenroll,” said Mike Krause, managing director at JMBE. “What I think it indicates is this is the moment for adults in higher education.”

NC Reconnect provides a vessel for colleges who want to serve adult learners better, Krause said. And the colleges start by reengaging students who were enrolled but never finished. By focusing on those students first, you start to see larger scale transformation, he said.

The transformation Krause describes is focused far less on enrollment numbers and more on culture change across the community colleges, looking at everything from funding to holistic student supports to adapting the way colleges operate to serve their biggest population – adult learners.