CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Groups fighting House Bill 2 worry that that the law is putting billions of education dollars in jeopardy. A majority of the funding in question goes to students.
There are roughly 19,000 students at Central Piedmont Community College, and more than half rely on Pell Grants to pay for their education.
Layla Bernal is one of them.
"I want to give a better future to my children," she said.
Bernal is a full-time mom and part-time worker who is also studying to become a physician's assistant. She says her workload would be much heavier without the Pell Grant.
"I depend on that. I have children to take care of. It helps me to come to school to be a better person to get the career I want to," said Bernal.
She is one of more than 11,800 Pell Grant recipients at CPCC.
The grants are part of the estimated $4.5 billion coming from the federal government to North Carolina in 2016.
- Two and a half billion dollars to student loans.
- Eight hundred fifty million dollars to Pell Grants.
The rest is used fund a mix of programs including vocational tech, adult literacy and special education.
To qualify, institutions must comply with Federal Title IX regulations that prohibit sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funds.
Tuesday, appeals court judges ruled it's discriminatory to keep a transgender teen in Virginia from using the men's bathroom at school, which conflicts with North Carolina's House Bill 2.
Experts say that means schools will have to choose to follow state law or risk federal funding.
"Losing that Pell Grant would hurt a lot of students," said student Tyrone Young.
He says he relies on the money but supports House Bill 2.
The school doesn't have any specific bathroom policy, and officials did not want comment on HB 2 while there are still questions about the future of the law and how it could impact students.
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