Education

NC Central’s doula program brings birth support to rural NC moms

By Jane Winik Sartwell

June 30, 2026 5:00 AM

AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.

NC Central’s Rural Health Hub is training community-based birth doulas in eastern NC.
The doulas will provide emotional, physical and informational support.
The program launched a second cohort of doula trainees in April to expand rural support.

Hello reader! Welcome to Higher Stakes. I’m Jane Winik Sartwell, here to deliver your North Carolina higher education news.

Over the weekend, I visited the Duke Lemur Center for the first time. I was blown away. My favorite lemur was the blue-eyed black lemur — its piercing eyes saw straight into my soul. An honorable mention goes to the tiny, nocturnal lemur who perched on the doorknob of its darkened enclosure to say hello to its spectators.

Earlier this month, the Lemur Center’s co-founder Peter Klopfer passed away. My colleague Josh Shaffer wrote about Klopfer’s life, his work, and his decades of civil rights activism.

This week in higher ed news, an online university expanded its presence in Raleigh, the NC Supreme Court decided that UNC can keep its remaining COVID research records out of the public eye, leaders at NC Central discussed the school’s precarious financial position, and state lawmakers passed a new law that cements DEI bans in public higher education.

But that’s not all. Read on to find out more.

Judge throws out Department of Education’s ‘professional degree’ definition

Earlier this month, I reported on how new graduate school loan caps could affect prospective graduate students in North Carolina.

Much of the controversy around the loan caps — laid out in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act — centered around the Department of Education’s definition of “professional degree:” 11 programs the department decided qualify for higher caps. Critics pointed out that many programs previously considered “professional” under the existing congressional definition, including nursing degrees, were not included, and thus excluded from higher loan caps.

Now, an important court ruling could change that picture.

A federal judge said Wednesday that the Department of Education “fundamentally misunderstand[s]” Congress’s prior definition, which “could not have been clearer as to the meaning of ’professional degree.’”

The judge ordered the rule “stayed pending final resolution of this litigation.”

The lawsuit isn’t over, but for now, the department’s 11-program-only definition has been put on hold.

NC Central’s new doula program brings birth support to rural NC moms

Maternity care deserts are a significant problem in North Carolina. There are multiple rural regions where it would take hours for expecting mothers to travel to a labor and delivery unit.

That lack of access to care translates to worsened outcomes. In North Carolina, 87% of pregnancy-related deaths for Black women between 2018 and 2020 were considered preventable, The News & Observer previously reported.

A program spearheaded by NC Central University aims to help solve this problem by building out a support network for pregnant women in rural Eastern North Carolina. The school’s Rural Health Hub, based in Enfield, is training cohorts of community-based birth doulas who will work with women before, during and after birth, providing them with emotional, physical and informational support.

“We want moms to understand when something isn’t right and feel empowered to seek help,” Undi Hoffler, director of the doula program, said. “... Information is power. When moms understand their bodies and their options, they can advocate for themselves.”

The second cohort of doula trainees started the program in April.

Higher ed headlines from this week

In a surprise veto override last week, Republican lawmakers passed a law that tightens and cements bans on diversity, equity and inclusion at public universities and community colleges in North Carolina. Find out what’s in the law and how it will interact with existing DEI bans.
NC Central is working to improve its financial standing in light of a UNC System review that revealed its money struggles. The school’s leadership is optimistic about change, but the “realities are that [recovery is] not going to happen overnight.” Read about the shortfalls the school is facing and why.
The NC Supreme Court declined to take up a case about UNC’s COVID-19 research records, providing the final word in a high-profile public records dispute dating back to 2020. Here’s more about the controversy.
Wake County is offering a free, online Master of Public Administration program to its employees. But it didn’t pick a school in the Triangle for the partnership. Read about what university it chose and why.
An online university opened up a 300-person office in Raleigh last week, even though “there were some people in North Carolina that didn’t want [it] to happen.” Find out more here.
One Raleigh scientist is on a quest for missing black holes. How you can help find them.
UNC and NC State’s men’s basketball teams will compete at a neutral site game in an attempt to benefit both programs in the NET rankings. Read more about the agreement.