As the coronavirus pandemic continued to keep North Carolinians at home and pushed many college courses online, the UNC System enrolled a record 242,464 students in fall 2020. Carolina contributed to the number with its own record-breaking 30,092 students enrolled, including the largest transfer class ever.
Since the University’s tuition waiver benefit allows full-time employees to take up to three free classes per year at any UNC System institution, the record enrollment includes many University employees. Staff members are taking advantage of a wider selection of online classes to enroll in college courses and pursue degrees.
“It’s one positive experience during the pandemic,” said Aja Martindale, grants administrator in the UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health. She is in the fifth year of earning her bachelor’s degree in an interdisciplinary major she designed herself, combining the topics of geography, women and work. Martindale is also the first nontradition