Amiya NealN.C. Central University’s online program was ranked No.3 by Forbes magazine among all HBCUs this past June, as NCCU continued its push towards increasing its overall enrollment through online enrollment. Forbes attributed its high ranking of NCCU’s online program to its high retention rate of 75%, low in-state tuition and advantageous location in the Research Triangle.
For the fall 2025 semester, 1,885 students enrolled online at NCCU, an increase from 1,395 students the previous spring semester, according to Kimberly Phifer-McGhee, Assistant Vice Chancellor of Extended Studies and Student Support.
“Online education plays a huge role in our enrollment increase, and that is strategically done because we need to continue growing enrollment. But we’re kind of busting out of the seams here for on-campus students,” Phifer-McGhee said.
NCCU’s online program began in 1998 and has since expanded to 37 undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs, according to Phifer-McGhee. Some of its most popular programs include psychology, health administration and behavioral social sciences.
A special emphasis was placed on adult learners, military-affiliated, and graduate students who may not have been able to attend academic instruction in person when developing the online degree program.
“The push for that is individuals who had to stop out of school for whatever reason: life, family, work, and wanted to come back and finish their degree,” Phifer-McGhee said. “We could provide that flexibility for them to actually take their classes online.”
Phifer-McGhee also cited a UNC system study that indicated there were “hundreds and thousands of North Carolinians who had some college credit, but no degree,” as another reason such high emphasis was placed on those specific groups of students.
Students who are fully online or take some online courses have benefited from the convenience and flexibility that online courses give them.
“I think online classes are actually a bit easier, especially asynchronous,” senior early childhood education major Kennedi Williams said. “I can do all the work on my time, and I really don’t have to rush.” Williams said she is not a full-time online student, but a part-time on-campus student due to her senior classification and lighter workload.
“With me being off campus, I picked the schedule to where I could still balance school, going to work, and other extracurricular activities,” Williams said. “So, it has actually been a pretty good balance.”
Williams also said doing asynchronous classes helped her with adjusting to having her own responsibilities.
“I also feel like asynchronous is good because it teaches you how to do work at a fast pace, and get stuff done without anybody. Kind of like helping you continue to be more independent,” Williams said.
Williams added that some of the asynchronous classes can be fast-paced and difficult to keep up with and urged other students considering the online route to consider all aspects before deciding.
“I will say, if you do consider online classes, make sure it’s the right thing for you,” Williams said. “If you’re a person who knows you’re good with the online environment and can get assignments done on time, then I would say, go for it.”
The online program’s modern initiative is based on the first and third pillars of the university’s strategic plan, Vision 2030: academic excellence and institutional sustainability.
Its extensive collaboration with Project Kitty Hawk, an initiative to support the education of adult learners, was critical to the online program’s success over other HBCUs, according to Phifer-McGhee.
“With our flight path programs–which is Project Kitty Hawk–students in one of those programs are assigned a student success coach,” Phifer-McGhee said. “A little different from the academic advisor, but that student success coach checks in on those students throughout the semester.”
Phifer-McGhee said that adult learners appreciated the help from student success coaches because they help them keep up with assignments when their other responsibilities started to pull them away from their studies. The quality of education provided to students was another factor that led to the program’s success, according to Online Admissions Officer Kim Chavis.
“We offer quality education. We have a positive reputation and impact, and we provide transparent and competitive data,” Chavis said. “We demonstrate strong student outcomes, and we have fully accredited programs that meet the recognized educational standards.”
Phifer-McGhee attributed the most pivotal part of the online program’s success to Central’s staff.
“I also think it can be attributed to our staff,” Phifer-McGhee said. “When (students) get to that point–to make sure that their classes are not dropped and their education is not disrupted–the staff tend to go the extra mile to make things happen for our students.” But whether it be online or in-person, Central’s vision “to be a globally recognized catalyst for academic excellence, research innovation, and community impact,” remains the same.
The online program looks to expand in the health sciences within the next couple of years as it continues to build on its success and increase the school’s enrollment, according to Phifer-McGhee.
Enrollment is expected to increase by 205 students to 2,095 students in Spring 2026, according to Chavis.
“I truly appreciate NCCU and the leadership for the support and belief they have in online education,” Phifer-McGhee said. “I think if we were not playing in this field of online, our campus would be left behind.”
EDITORS’ NOTE: There was a correction in a quote attribution.
