At a Glance
UNC Chapel Hill admits 15.3% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
What families actually pay, by income level
After grants and scholarships. Before loans. Public school prices shown at in-state rates.
Source: College Scorecard / IPEDS, 2024-25
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Based on average need-based grant. Actual cost varies by family income — see chart above.
Shown at in-state rates.
Debt at Graduation
33.7%
receive need-based grant aid
$20,382
average debt at graduation
UNC Chapel Hill graduates carry an average of $20,382 in debt.
Merit Aid
1,549
students received merit aid
$5,944
average merit award
Getting In
UNC Chapel Hill admits 15.3% of applicants.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 28% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 41% of the class submitted
77% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill considers your essay Important — a strong essay can differentiate an otherwise average application. Demonstrated interest is Not Considered here — campus visits and emails to admissions won't affect your odds.
Student Life
41.8% of UNC Chapel Hill classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At UNC Chapel Hill, 41.8% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2024–25, Section I-3 (class sizes)
15:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
Live on campus
43%
Men in fraternities
7%
Women in sororities
12%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
UNC Chapel Hill's student body is 52.8% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
UNC Chapel Hill graduates 83.6% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
UNC Chapel Hill graduates 83.6% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
UNC Chapel Hill
83.6%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $26,055*
* In-state cost of attendance. Out-of-state students pay significantly more.
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2024–25, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
91.2%
Overall 6-yr rate
88.5%
Pell recipient rate
Lower-income students graduate at nearly the same rate as their peers — a sign of strong institutional support.
Freshman Retention
96.6%
96.6% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Chapel Hill.
Chapel Hill is a compact, leafy college town where Franklin Street runs straight off campus into a strip of restaurants, record shops, and coffee places that students actually use daily. The campus is old and green, and almost everything is walkable. It suits students who want a true college-town feel with a low-key pace; Durham is 20 minutes away and Raleigh about 40, so a bigger night out or a professional sports game is an easy trip.
Notable Alumni
Michael Jordan
Hit the championship-winning shot as a UNC freshman, then won six NBA titles and became the sport's global icon.
Mia Hamm
Won four national championships at UNC and two World Cups with the U.S. national team, becoming the face of American women's soccer.
Andy Griffith
Actor whose Andy Griffith Show ran for eight seasons and remains one of the most rerun series in television history.
James K. Polk
The 11th President of the United States, who graduated first in his class at UNC.
Stuart Scott
ESPN SportsCenter anchor who reshaped how sports are talked about on television, and whose ESPY speech on illness is still widely quoted.
Hugh McColl
Built NationsBank into Bank of America through a series of mergers, turning Charlotte into a major banking center.
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
College town
Chapel Hill, NC
Best For
Traditions
Drinking from the Old Well
Students drink from the Old Well on the first day of classes, which is said to bring good grades for the year. The line stretches across the quad, and it's one of the few traditions nearly every student takes part in.
Rushing Franklin Street
After a win over Duke or a national championship, students pour out of dorms and flood Franklin Street, where the town closes the road and the crowd runs through bonfires. It regularly draws tens of thousands of people.
Late Night with Carolina
The official start of basketball season fills the Smith Center for a night of skits, dunk contests, and the first look at both the men's and women's teams. Admission is free for students.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Chapel Hill
Raleigh
40 minutesThe state capital, with free museums, a strong music venue circuit, and NHL hockey at the Hurricanes' arena.
Wrightsville Beach
2.5 hoursThe closest good stretch of Atlantic coast, and a standard spring-weekend trip for students with a car.
Asheville & the Blue Ridge Mountains
4 hoursMountain hiking, the Blue Ridge Parkway, and a small city built around music, food, and breweries.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Raleigh-Durham International (RDU)
25 minutes from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- Carolina Hurricanes NHL
- North Carolina Courage NWSL
Career Proximity
UNC sits about 20 minutes from Research Triangle Park, giving students access to one of the country's densest concentrations of biotech, pharmaceutical, and technology employers.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- UNC Health
- IQVIA
- Red Hat
- Cisco Systems
- Blue Cross NC
Research Triangle Park — about 20 minutes from campus
Who Thrives Here
Carolina charges state residents about $9,100 in tuition and fees and meets 100% of demonstrated need, so graduates leave with unusually low debt — roughly $20,400 — and its academic strengths run to social sciences, life sciences and journalism more than engineering. Greek life is comparatively small at 7% of men and 12% of women; the social center of gravity is basketball and the town, and after a win over Duke students flood Franklin Street by the tens of thousands.