RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – The state’s top college and university leaders, along with elected officials on both sides of the aisle, took the stage Wednesday night to affirm higher education’s critical role in North Carolina.

But the panel discussion — organized by Higher Education Works and the Harvard Club of the Research Triangle — also warned of major challenges facing public education in the Tar Heel State.

“The people of North Carolina have always prioritized higher education,” said Sen. Josh Stein (D-Wake), seated alongside University of North Carolina President Tom Ross, North Carolina Community College System President Scott Ralls and Sen.  Jeff Tarte (R-Mecklenburg). “But I fear our state’s longstanding commitment to higher education is eroding.”

Ross and Ralls both talked about the effort to make community colleges and public universities more efficient and accessible during an era of declining state support.  Funding per student fell significantly at both institutions during the Great Recession and has not recovered.

The weakening of state support has led to greater reliance on tuition and fees, Ross pointed out.  He cited “the shifting of funding of higher education more toward funding by individuals and their families as opposed to states. That’s true not just in this state, but all over the country.”

Tarte acknowledged that state support for education has been under pressure, but said legislators recognize public colleges and universities as the pillar of North Carolina’s economic competitiveness.

“They are the single most important asset in North Carolina,” he said. “It is the economic engine. It’s what differentiates us.”

A key part of the state’s strength in higher education comes from close cooperation between the community colleges and universities. Ross and Ralls pointed to a variety of efforts underway to tighten that partnership, noting that many students rely on both systems over the course of their lives.

“The swirl between institutions is much greater than people realize,” Ralls said. “Students move back and forth all the time.”

Stein and Tarte echoed the importance of opening different pathways for students to earn credentials, and to return to higher education at different points in their lives.

“It’s going to be human capital that draws companies to North Carolina,” Stein said. “We have to make that opportunity available to more North Carolinians.”

The event took place in the headquarters of Research Triangle Park, and the panelists all pointed to RTP as an example of the state’s far-sighted vision for education and industry.

Ralls noted that North Carolina was once the second-poorest state in the nation — “Back when we used to say, ‘Thank God for Mississippi,’” he quipped — but steadily improved with investments in education and training.

That progress, everyone agreed, is under threat unless North Carolina can sustain its commitment to broadly accessible higher education.