Buying half of a strip shopping center near the Fayetteville State University campus that the school didn’t already own may be a relatively small real estate transaction. But the $2.2 million transaction signals the institution’s bigger ambitions.
A Chick-fil-A is opening this month at the Bronco Midtown development, which since 2002 has housed a mix of office and retail tenants, including the Greater Fayetteville Chamber. Bronco Development, an affiliated entity of Fayetteville State, spent about $1 million on updates. Separately, about $200 million in capital projects have been completed or are in process at the second-oldest state-assisted university, which dates to 1867.
“We’re very appreciative of the significant investment that is being made,” says Darrell Allison, who became chancellor in 2021 after serving on the UNC System Board of Governors. “It’s already helping us turn the corner. We want to be an institution that sustains these gains and continues to be desirable and affordable.”
Allison inherited one of the state’s most challenging higher education jobs. “We were last in student retention of the 16 [UNC System] campuses, last in graduation rates and last in alumni giving,” he says.
Still, there’s a clear demand for the public university in the state’s sixth-largest city. Fayetteville State’s enrollment increased 16% between 2014 and 2023 to about 6,850, including about 1,000 graduate students. Overall, UNC System enrollment gained 9% during the same period.
About a fifth of Fayetteville State’s students graduate within four years and a third within five years, according to system statistics. That compares with a four-year graduation rate of 50% for the entire system, and a 65% five-year rate.
Nobody likes that performance, though there’s plenty of history to explain some of the challenges. About half of Fayetteville State’s students are age 25 or older, compared with about 30% for the UNC System.
Fayetteville is among the system’s five historically Black campuses, which have historically struggled to receive resources. It’s the last system campus to add a substantial recreation center, which Allison says has become an essential tool to recruit and retain students and faculty. Fayetteville State’s wellness center is slated to open in January 2026.
While a designated HBCU, nearly 40% of Fayetteville students are not Black. That compares with fewer than 15% at the state’s two largest HBCUs, N.C. A&T State and N.C. Central universities.
Fayetteville’s main economic driver is Fort Liberty, the largest U.S. military base that is located eight miles from the university campus. It has amore transitory population with different needs than a traditional college campus focused on 18-to-24-year-old students.
To improve graduation and retention rates, Allison has stressed affordability and convenience. In 2022, Fayetteville State joined the state’s NC Promise program that limits tuition to $500 per semester for in-state undergraduate students.
The new Chick-fil-A is a sure-bet traffic draw for the university’s Bronco Midtown project. The campus is about a mile and a half from downtown Fayetteville.
Allison also has helped create a public-private fund that provides free tuition for military-affiliated students.
“We’ve seen a 25% increase in the number of military students since [2021] with about 33% of our nearly 7,000 students military-affiliated. We lead the system by far in that category.”
Beefing up summer programs has become a key agenda. Two-thirds of students took summer courses this year, a much higher percentage than the UNC System average. Incoming freshmen are promised 28 credit-hours of tuition-free summer courses. Most are offered online, which Allison says is preferred by most students and instructors.
Emphasizing high-demand educational areas is essential, so Fayetteville State is expanding programs in cybersecurity, supply chain and construction management.
“Our leading question is whether our education is really worth it and how do we respond with an emphatic yes,” Allison says. “We know we have to be flexible and change strategically to meet students where
they are.” ■
