At a Glance
New Hampshire admits 89.1% 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
52.8%
receive need-based grant aid
$45,196
average debt at graduation
New Hampshire graduates carry an average of $45,196 in debt.
Merit Aid
4,150
students received merit aid
$7,284
average merit award
Getting In
New Hampshire admits 89.1% of applicants.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 19% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 1% of the class submitted
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
University of New Hampshire gives essays less weight than many schools — academics drive most admissions decisions here. Demonstrated interest is Not Considered here — campus visits and emails to admissions won't affect your odds.
Student Life
40% of New Hampshire 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 New Hampshire, 40% 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 2025–26, Section I-3 (class sizes)
17:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
From out of state (freshman class)
53.3%
Live on campus
58.82%
Men in fraternities
18.97%
Women in sororities
16.28%
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."
New Hampshire's student body is 83.9% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
New Hampshire graduates 68.1% 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.
New Hampshire graduates 68.1% 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.
New Hampshire
68.1%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $35,537*
* In-state cost of attendance. Out-of-state students pay significantly more.
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2025–26, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
77%
Overall 6-yr rate
71.1%
Pell recipient rate
There's a 5.9 point gap between overall and Pell Grant graduation rates. Worth asking the school about support resources.
Freshman Retention
88%
88% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Durham.
Durham is a small town on New Hampshire's Seacoast, about ten miles from Portsmouth and an hour north of Boston, with Amtrak's Downeaster stopping on campus. The White Mountains are two hours north.
Notable Alumni
John Irving
Novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter of The Cider House Rules, who took his bachelor's degree at New Hampshire
Carlton Fisk
Baseball Hall of Fame catcher, who came to New Hampshire on a basketball scholarship and played both sports for the Wildcats
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
College town
Durham, NH
Best For
Traditions
Homecoming bonfire
Built and burned on campus the night before the homecoming game, and the largest single gathering of the year.
Wildcat hockey at the Whittemore Center
Men's ice hockey is the sport that fills the building here rather than football — a New England inversion of the usual state-flagship pattern.
Marine research at Jackson Estuarine Laboratory
UNH is a land-grant, sea-grant and space-grant institution, and its Great Bay marine facilities are a genuine draw for its science students.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Durham
Boston
1 hourThe nearest major city and the practical international airport; the Downeaster train runs there from campus.
Portsmouth
15 minutesThe Seacoast's restaurant and music town, and the standard night out.
The White Mountains
2 hoursHiking and skiing in the Presidential Range, north of campus.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
Manchester-Boston Regional (MHT)
45 minutes from campus
For international flights: Boston Logan International (BOS) — about 1 hour by road.
Pro sports nearby
- Boston Red Sox MLB
- New England Patriots NFL
- Boston Bruins NHL
- Boston Celtics NBA
Career Proximity
New Hampshire's pipeline runs south into the Boston corridor for technology and biotech, with defence and shipbuilding work at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard fifteen minutes from campus.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
- BAE Systems
- Fidelity Investments
- Dartmouth Health
Boston, 1 hour
Who Thrives Here
New Hampshire admits 89.1% of applicants, which makes it a realistic target for students whose numbers rule out more selective public universities. It is also unusual among state flagships in drawing most of its entering class from elsewhere: 53.3% of first-years come from out of state against 45.2% from New Hampshire, and out-of-state tuition and fees run $41,864 against $20,172 in state. That combination produces the figure a family most needs to see before applying — average debt at graduation of $45,196, because the university meets 67.85% of demonstrated need rather than all of it. What the money buys is a genuinely residential campus rather than a commuter one: 58.82% of undergraduates live on campus, Greek life takes in 18.97% of men and 16.28% of women, classes run 17 to 1 with 40.0% of sections under 20, and 88.0% of first-years return, with 68.1% finishing in four years and 77.0% in six.