During the first two years, statewide conferences were held in Raleigh and Sanford, respectively. Because a number of professionals voiced their concern about lack of access to the statewide conferences, a decision was made to host regional conferences. From 2017 to 2019, regional conferences were conducted, with the idea that more professionals could be served if the location was closer to their employment. As noted in Table 1 below, the number of participants has increased each year.
Table 1. Number of Conferences, Participants, and Completed Evaluations Over Time
Number of Conferences | Number of Participants | Number/Percentage of Completed Evaluations | |
2015 | 1 | 200 | 64 (32.0%) |
2016 | 1 | 216 | 80 (37.0%) |
2017 | 3 | 306 | 93 (30.4%) |
2018 | 4 | 393 | 129 (32.8%) |
2019 | 4 | 530 | 103 (19.4%) |
Table 2 provides data on the number of community colleges and four-year public and private institutions that sent representatives to the conferences. Four-year college representation remains fairly stable over the years. Representation from community colleges dipped this year, with only 34.5% of the 58 schools participating. It is vital to ensure that the schools with the largest number of student Veterans in the State be represented. In 2019, the latest year that data are available for the number of student Veterans and military-connected dependents on the GI Bill in North Carolina, 13,297 were in community colleges, 11,437 were in the UNC System, and 4,558 in NCICU schools for a total of 29,292.
Table 2. Number of Institutions of Higher Education Represented at Conferences
Community Colleges | UNC System | NCICU System | Other Schools | |
2015 | 23 | 14 | 11 | |
2016 | 30 | 12 | 8 | |
2017 | 21 | 14 | 11 | 6 |
2018 | 32 | 10 | 16 | 11 |
2019 | 20 | 12 | 17 | 9 |