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Student Access Initiative

Helping qualified students find their path to CALS.

Gaining access or acceptance to a 4-year undergraduate degree — especially for young people from rural and farming communities — is harder now than it ever has been. We hear this message loud and clear from our alumni, friends and stakeholders.

Through our Student Access Initiative, we are tackling this challenge head-on. We are growing existing programs and developing paths to meet the needs of different students who are applying to our college.

Helping Students. Helping Agriculture.

NC State College of Agriculture and LIfe Sciences student Collin Blalock sits on the back of a tractor with in a field. He is surrounded by bushels of produce.

The USDA forecasts annual demand for college graduates in the agriculture and food industries at 57,900. American agricultural colleges are only producing 35,400 graduates a year.

Demand for CALS grads is at an all-time high.

In fact, we need to increase the number of graduates in our 4-year degree programs by 1.5 to 2 percent a year and add 90 students to our 2-year degree programs to meet the needs of our state.

So what are we doing to help? We’re adding programs and helping students find their path to CALS.

STEAM Program

The invitation-only STEAM program is also helping rural students realize their dream of attending NC State after completing all program requirements. It’s not important where you start, but where you finish, and our transfer students finish strong – often out-performing many of our traditional 4-year students.

Learn More 
An NC State student

Thinking CALS?

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