The largest city in North Carolina, Charlotte offers students ample recreational activities and a relative abundance of warm, sunny days throughout the year. It's also home to a number of corporate headquarters and startups, offering students and recent graduates of Charlotte colleges many opportunities to flourish. Charlotte's commitment to higher education begins early as students of Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools are granted the opportunity to get a "jump start" on their degree and enroll in courses at Central Piedmont Community College while still in high school.
There are several community colleges near Charlotte, but only Central Piedmont Community College lies within the city limits. Each year, CPCC hosts fun events like the arts and culture festival Sensoria, The Geekfest in honor of creative innovations in tech, and the Skyline Run to support scholarship funds. Popular programs at the school include accounting, information technology, and management. The nearby Carolinas College of Health Sciences and the Southeastern Institute are also well-known for their certificate and associate degree program in medical fields and massage therapy.
There are a handful of sizable colleges in Charlotte but the University of North Carolina at Charlotte is by far the largest. Queens University of Charlotte and Johnson & Wales University's Charlotte campus each offer a range of associate and bachelor's degree programs. Among the largest universities in Charlotte, degree programs in the fields of business, engineering, healthcare, and culinary arts are commonly available.
Universities in Charlotte that offer advanced degree programs include UNC Charlotte, which has a handful of master's degree programs in applied physics, cybersecurity, and business administration, while Queens University has offerings in communications, nursing, and education.
For more information about higher education in the state, see the extensive list of North Carolina Colleges.
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