(RALEIGH) -- A new report suggests that merging small community colleges and consolidating purchasing power between campuses could save the state millions of dollars.

The findings, which were presented to a legislative oversight committee, recommend merging colleges with fewer than 3,000 full-time equivalent students with another college.  The report says that if 15 mergers could be completed during the next seven years, it would yield $24.4 million in savings.  A separate finding to develop purchasing consortiums between schools is estimated to save another $1.8 million during the same time period.
 
The recommendation does not suggest closing campuses. Instead, colleges would function as satellite campuses.  Twenty of the 58 institutions are currently multi-campus colleges. The report notes that there are only seven colleges without another college within a 30-mile radius.
 
“There was no statewide plan to determine the most strategic placement of colleges to ensure even distribution across the state,” said Catherine Moga Bryant, a senior analyst with the General Assembly’s Program Evaluation Division.
 
Community college leaders rejected the idea of merging institutions. They pointed out that since the start of the recession, overall enrollment has jumped 28 percent while per-pupil funding dropped by 21 percent.
 
“Truly if we were to do everything over, maybe we wouldn’t have all the colleges where they are now,” said N.C. Community College System president Dr. Scott Ralls. “But we’re not starting with a blank slate.”
 
Ralls also told lawmakers that merging campuses would have an especially negative impact on small, rural colleges where the economic downturn has hit the hardest. “They’re the hubs of economic development in their communities and they’re the hubs of, as we like to say, hope opportunity and job opportunity,” he added. “And it’s that spark which is tough to quantify and to identify, but I can tell you it’s very real.”
 
Mary Kirk, president of the N.C. Association of Community College Presidents, said the 58 institutions were already educating students in an effective, yet cost-efficient manner. Likewise, she argued that merging colleges would erode the amount of local support from counties and businesses, “If you merged Carolina with State, would the Rams Club be as quick to support,” she asked lawmakers.
 
The panel is expected to consider the study at the next meeting in July.