The Decree
since 1960 “of, by, andfor the Wesleyan community. ”
December 16, 2022
NORTH CAROLINA WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY, ROCKY MOUNT, NORTH CAROLINA 27804
Wesleyan Seeks to Address Steep Drop in APS Enrollment
Buffeted by Covid, a low
national unemployment rate and
other factors, North Carolina
Wesleyan has seen enrollment in
its adult degree program fall by
52 percent in the last five years.
According to data furnished
by the university, total enroll
ment has decreased from 899 to
432 since fall of 2017. Besides
the main Rocky Mount cam
pus, the university operates
eight satellite campuses, from
Winston-Salem to Wilmington.
The Rocky Mount site’s enroll
ment has declined from 315 to
228 during the five-year period,
while more precipitous drops
have been recorded in Goldsboro
(167 to 26), the Triangle (161-57)
and Wilmington (95-24). This
fall Manteo and Washington each
enrolled one student.
In November, the Decree in
terviewed school officials about
steps that Wesleyan is contem
plating to arrest the recent slide
in enrollment. Katie Farrell is
the Associate Dean of Adult and
Professional Studies for Strategy,
Partnerships & Assessments.
Prior to becoming Wesleyan’s
President, Dr. Evan Duff worked
in the field of adult studies for
many years.
Q: No doubt Wesleyan is
providing an essential service to
various communities by offering a
college education to adult learners.
But in what ways is a flourishing
APS program vital to the success
of Wesleyan's traditional-day pro
gram as well? Make connections,
whether in terms of revenues or
other benefits/synergies.
ED: Since APS’s inception in
the mid-1970s, its revenue has
supported traditional campus
operations. It’s worth noting that,
even when enrollment is declining,
APS is always a profitable revenue
stream. Aside from revenue, APS
serves as an extension of our tradi
tional enrollment, human resources,
and fundraising initiatives. Some of
our APS students' children choose
our traditional program to further
their education, and we’ve hired
APS graduates for faculty and
staff positions. Another way APS
benefits the traditional day program
is through the philanthropic support
graduates provide to our yearly
campaigns. We’ll continue to lever
age our relationship with APS stu-
dents/alum by developing partner
ships with their organizations for
recmiting and career development.
Q: Explain the overall impor
tance of operating satellite cam
puses in an adult-degree program
rather than, say, one main campus
that offers students around the state
the ability to take online classes.
ED: A local presence has proven
vital in establishing our value and
building bust with students. Through
our community college partnerships,
we’ve lowered or eradicated the cost
of providing service to students in
their communities.
Q: How did Covid impact APS
students in particular?
ED: While the data is still out
on this, Covid had a more signifi
cant effect on APS than our tra
ditional program. Working adults
were impacted with a higher
level of uncertainty about the
future while continuing to juggle
all the complexities of adult life
(i.e., kids, aging parents, loss of
income, changes in their support
systems). Although many thought
this pandemic recession would
increase enrollment, the reality
was the exact opposite.
Q: National and state un
employment rates have been
hovering between 3.5 to 4 percent
in the last year. Can you make a
correlation between low unem
ployment and APS enrollment?
ED: Typically low unemploy
ment rate corresponds to lower
enrollment in most adult pro
grams. Adult degree programs
tend to see higher enrollments
during recessions. What the na
tion is experiencing now is unlike
anything we’ve seen in the past.
You have low unemployment,
younger adults (25-40) finding
alternative ways to generate rev
enue, and harmful societal com
mentary on higher education's
value (i.e., return on investment).
Together, such factors make it
challenging to demonstrate to
adults the importance of further
ing their education.
Q: Let's talk about the competition.
First which programs are the leader’s
in adult education around the state?
KF: Historically, our com
petitors were other small, private,
liberal arts schools, such as
Barton and Mount Olive, that of ¬
Science Students Enjoy Field Study, Hunt for Nurdles at NC Beach
By Rhea Wilder
Decree Staff Writer
One day I received a text
message with a link to a TikTok
video about nurdles. I had never
heard of nurdles until this video
taught me that they’re prepro
duction plastic pellets. They’re
shipped all over the world and
melted down to make every
thing from car parts to utensils.
Because they’re so small, it’s
thought that many nurdles spill
from shipping containers and
enter sewage systems, not to mention
rivers and streams, and eventually
travel to the ocean. They can also en
ter the ecosystem as waste discharged
from manufacturing facilities.
These microplastic pellets are
damaging to the environment
because they look like little eggs and
animals (eg. turtles) and fish eat them
and feel lull,leading to starvation. Not
only that, but when fish absorb nur
dles through breathing, the substance
can get into their system and affect
their movement, mating behavior
and ability to escape predators.
Humans can be affected by
consuming nurdle-contaminated
seafood and other wildlife. Nurdles
can also dissolve and contaminate
the drinking water supply. “And
once the substance is inside us,”
Dr. Elias said, “the body’s response
might be chronic inflammation and
abnormal growths.”
No one knows exactly what effect
nurdles have because they aren’t regu
lated as they should be; no one knows
how many are lost in the environment.
According to NurdlePatrol.org, mass
production of nurdles has occurred
since the 1950s and the first evidence
of their environmental presence was
documented in 1972. Their known
effects can be deadly, and continued
research will only aid in developing
regulation policy and producing
solutions to prevent further damage.
As an environmental science
fered programs specific for adult
students. With the increasing
presence of certain not-for-profits
schools as well as for-profit
online institutions, we’ve seen
a shift in the adult-education
landscape. We’re now competing
with institutions such as Capella
(for-profit) and Western Gov
ernors University and Southern
New Hampshire (both non-
profits). And although we tend to
serve a different market than the
state institutions, due to cost we
continue to face competition from
East Carolina as well as schools
like UNC-Pembroke that offer
the NC Promise tuition rates.
Q: How do you explain the re
cent success of Western Governors
and Southern New Hampshire?
KF: Greater funding is a major
component to their success.
It allows them to spend more
money in marketing and program
development (WGU has really
been a force, with over 4,000
North Carolina adults who have
matriculated to their programs).
And WGU and Southern New
Hampshire (not to mention
Capella) offer low tuition as well
as competency-based educational
programs that makes them more
appealing to the adult learner who
wants to complete a degree faster.
Q: Could you elaborate on compe ¬
Outer Banks in late November.
Wilder/Elias photo
In search of environment-damaging "nurdles," Wesleyan
students, led by Dr. Daniel Elias, took a field trip to the
major, I was intrigued by all this,
so I forwarded the TikTok link
to Dr. Elias. He discovered that
the University of Texas is doing
a citizen-run research project to
better understand the amount of
nurdles that are scattered across
the world. Wanting to be part of
this research, he contacted UT
and got instructions on how to be
come part of the “Nurdle Patrol.”
A trip was planned to the Out
er Banks. When I asked Dr. Elias
why he likes to take these trips,
he said, “I take them because I
want my students to have real-life
experiences because what they
learn in class is only half of the
learning process. It’s when what
you learn becomes real.”
After getting the funding from
the Wesleyan Science Club, our
group was ready to collect data.
On Saturday November 12th at
7 a.m., there were 24 students of
different majors loading the bus
to travel to Outer Banks.
We were greeted by a driver
named Mr. Booze. “Like the alco
hol,” he said. This would normal
ly make me concerned as he was
driving us, but I was acquainted
with him from traveling to soccer
games in the last few years and
knew that we were in good hands.
As I’m not a morning person, I
tency-based educational programs?
KF: It measures skills and
learning outcomes based on the
student’s ability to demonstrate
mastery of a topic by completing
assessments. And it does so on a
non-traditional schedule. Rather
than using “classroom time” as one
measure, competency-based educa
tion allows students to complete
the assessments at their own pace.
Q: What other trends have led
to recent declines in Wesleyan’s
APS enrollment?
KF: Like other organizations,
Wesleyan was impacted by “The
Great Resignation” with some of
our staff moving onto new indus
tries. It’s been a challenge to fill
staff openings while competing
with companies that offer fully
remote positions.
Q: Let’s talk about possible
changes Wesleyan may make to
address the recent drop in enroll
ment. Is the university consider
ing closing or scaling back some
of its nine campuses?
ED: At this time, we have no
plans to reduce our number of
locations. We’ve consolidated our
course offerings, reduced our de
pendency on stand-alone facilities
by partnering with community
colleges, and established partner
ships to improve the affordability
of our programs with community
sat in the front seat
eager to go back to
sleep. Three hours
later, we arrived
at the beach. We
thought that it was
going to be cold
there, but it ended
up being about 70
degrees and sunny,
which was perfect
weather for us to
conduct our research.
For ten minutes
we searched the
sand for nurdles in a single file
line, staying an arm’s width apart
from each other. We moved for
ward two times to new locations
and spent ten minutes at each spot.
Mr. Booze even helped us search
and grinned in excitement when
Dr. Elias confirmed that he had
potentially found a few nurdles.
Most of us struggled to tell if
the objects we were picking up
were nurdles or pieces of glass. As
a result of this, one of the science
students, Andy Rizzo, was trying
to produce ways to test if they were
indeed nurdles. She suggested
melting them to determine the
difference between plastic and
glass. “We could also see if they
float as a way to determine the
difference,” Rizzo said.
I loved overhearing her excite
ment because all things environ
mental excite me too. Following
the search, we got to spend time
at the same beach for an hour.
A lot of the students got in the
water with their clothes on or
decided to play with a frisbee.
I spent the majority of the
time searching for shark teeth
in the sand. When I found one,
it caused curiosity to spike, and
a few other students started
searching too. At one point, a
big wave crashed on the sand
college staff. Among other chang
es, we’re considering improved
digital marketing, personal
ized marketing campaigns, and
enhanced program offerings. A
task force, primarily composed of
faculty, will explore research and
best practices over the next few
months to make recommendations
on further possible changes.
Q: Has Wesleyan considered
changing the APS program to 100
percent online? What would be
the pros and cons of such a move?
KF: Over the past few years,
APS has seen an increase in de
mand for fully online programs.
In light of this, we’re working
with Provost (Joseph) Lane and
our faculty to examine the fea
sibility of offering more classes
online. We’ll continue to offer
seated classes at our larger loca
tions and we’re piloting remote
synchronous formats to allow
students from other locations to
participate in seated courses. It’s
essential that we find the balance
between course formats to ensure
flexibility, while also providing
the most effective learning envi
ronment for our adult students.
Q: What other changes, such as
tuition reductions and new majors/
certificate programs, have been
considered to grow enrollment?
See DROP pg 3
and chased me up the beach.
Luckily I salvaged my energy
drink and book, but the shark
tooth was never seen again.
After leaving the beach, we
picked up Subway for lunch and
had a short drive to Jockey’s Ridge
State Park where we sat at picnic
tables to eat. Dr. Elias told all of
us that we had to meet back on the
bus at three, but we were allowed
to explore wherever we wanted
within the park. Once we finished
our subs, my friends and I decided
to go walk the massive sand dunes.
The dunes were beautiful, and
they made me feel small because
they were so big. We climbed
to the top of one and watched a
woman who was learning how
to hang-glide. After enjoying the
view of the ocean for a while it
was time to return to the bus.
Mr. Booze took us back to
campus. He joked that if we
were missing a student, they
would have a long walk back
to Rocky Mount. I stared at the
sunset for a long time reflecting
on the trip as we drove home.
This trip was an amazing
experience, but it came with mixed
feelings. I’m glad that I didn’t come
across any nurdles in my search
because that means they weren’t
easy enough for wildlife to find.
But I'm troubled because they were
probably there, and we just weren’t
looking in the correct spot.
I asked Dr. Elias what he
believed was the reason for the
apparent scarcity of nurdles
and he said that the weather—
there was a storm a few days
earlier-could have played a
role. “Since some nurdles float,
carried by currents, extreme
weather could have caused them
to travel to other beaches or
even stay in the ocean,” he said.
See Beach pg 3