A $33 million appropriation in the final state budget has community college folks smiling.

The money will allow colleges to replace old equipment and upgrade to new technology as well. This is important because the state's community colleges have been flooded with new students in the last year - enrollment has spiked 15 percent - and many are taking classes that require this new technology.

So I asked college officials for some specifics. Here's what Megen Hoenk with the community college system's office told me.

"A great example is the Catawba Valley Community College's Simulated Hospital.  CVCC restructured low-demand educational areas to offset the high cost of healthcare programs and built the largest simulated hospital on the East Coast. However, it will cost $1.2 million to fully equip the facility which is more than 1.5 times CVCC’s annual equipment allotment. CVCC has more than 1,000 students waiting to get into healthcare programs with other area community colleges experiencing similar demand. This simulated hospital could help alleviate the “clinical crunch” that has restricted much of the potential growth in healthcare education for CVCC and other regional community colleges."

"College of The Albemarle needs to convert its aging machine shop into an advanced manufacturing technology lab to prepare students for high-tech, high-skilled jobs in growing industries such as aerospace and aviation."

"Guilford Technical Community College has a total of 11 health programs with ongoing equipment needs as they strive to continue to provide healthcare workers for its area.  These equipment needs are essential to stay current with industry standards and to students’ preparation. One new health program on the horizon for GTCC is Radiologic Technologies.

Eventually the program would be moved to a location that can accommodate an energized lab.  This lab could cost in excess of $250,000 and would provide students with an opportunity to actually expose radiographs on mannequins in a learning environment where they can get hands on practice in a low risk environment. radiologic technicians are listed as one of the high demand health
careers for the future.  The region surrounding GTCC is a heavy health
industry area of the state."

The state's community colleges got a big boost in the final state budget - full funding for its rapid growth in enrollment.

The budget issues $81 million to community colleges to fully fund enrollment that increased 15 percent this year. Across the state's 58 community colleges, total full-time enrollment went up by about 30,000 students - which is about the size of N.C. State University. That's a lot of new students in a year and the funding will help ease classroom crunches that have seen instructors teach up to 8 courses a semester in classrooms swollen with up to 40 students each.

"The enrollment growth funding is huge," Scott Ralls, president of the community college system, said Tuesday. "It lets us keep our nose above water."

Another big budget line for community colleges: $33 million to replace and purchase new equipment. This is particularly important for the health and technical courses that are in such demand now across the community college system, Ralls said. "We needed to make a jump in high-tech [equipment] and replace the old stuff," he said. "It's a big shot in the arm for us."

The budget does cut the community college system's budget by $15 million, a flexibility cut that will be passed down to individual colleges to make as they choose.

We've already given you the UNC system president's thoughts on Gov. Beverly Perdue's budget proposal.

Now, here's what Scott Ralls, president of the state's community college system, had to say today about it.

“Governor Perdue’s budget recommendation to fully fund our colleges’ unprecedented enrollment growth reflects her understanding of North Carolinians’ increasing demand for job training and education, and we appreciate that recommendation.

While we know that lean budget times demand difficult decisions, we also know that the
proposed system-wide cut of 3.5 percent -- a direct reduction of our per-student funding -- will reach into our classrooms and lessen our colleges’ ability to provide high-quality educational opportunities for our students, particularly in healthcare and technical education.

We will be working with the Governor and the leadership in the General Assembly to find an alternative solution.”

Each year, the state's community college system honors two students at each of its 58 campuses with awards for academic excellence.

It has a jazzy website with mini-profiles of each of these students.

Check it out here.

Locally, Erin Munise and Randy Cooper are the Durham Tech winners. At Wake Tech,  Andreas Winston and Georgina Consolo were honored.