Colleges in North Carolina: acceptance rates and cost

Among the 13 North Carolina colleges on AdmitFacts, Duke accepted 6.8% of applicants for fall 2023, the most selective figure in the group.

Measured end to end, Western Carolina saw the largest swing, its admit rate rising from 37.7% in fall 2013 to 86.7% in fall 2023, an increase of 49.0 percentage points.

The cheapest option is Western Carolina, where out-of-state tuition and fees come to $8,685 for 2025-26; residents of North Carolina pay $4,685.

On what families with the least money actually pay, UNC Chapel Hill had the lowest average net price for families earning $0 to $30,000, $2,212 a year in 2024-25 for students paying the in-state rate.

Counting applications, UNC Chapel Hill received 57,902 applications for fall 2023, more than any other college in the table, up 104% from fall 2013.

For context, the median admit rate across 52 North Carolina bachelor's colleges was 77.2% for fall 2023, and the median out-of-state tuition at the state's 16 public bachelor's colleges is $23,619 for 2025-26.

North Carolina colleges on AdmitFacts

College	Admit rate, fall 2023	In-state tuition, 2025-26	Out-of-state, 2025-26	Graduation, 2019 entrants	Net price $0-30k, 2024-25
Duke	6.8%	$72,795 same for all		96%	$6,652
UNC Chapel Hill	18.7%	$9,095	$45,228	91%	$2,212
High Point University	76.8%	$49,146 same for all		72%	$36,494
Wake Forest	21.6%	$70,332 same for all		90%	$6,242
NC State	39.8%	$8,815	$33,780	85%	$6,149
UNCW	74.0%	$7,266	$25,420	72%	$11,568
Elon	67.3%	$48,723 same for all		81%	$20,986
ECU	90.1%	$7,438	$23,715	63%	$12,125
App State	88.6%	$7,642	$25,932	71%	$11,070
UNC Charlotte	80.2%	$7,317	$23,523	68%	$9,782
Western Carolina	86.7%	$4,685	$8,685	61%	$10,446
Wingate University	85.0%	$41,686 same for all		43%	$19,118
NC A&T	46.2%	$6,813	$20,873	56%	$8,284

Admit rates: IPEDS fall 2023. Tuition and fees: College Scorecard 2025-26; private colleges charge every student the same. Graduation within 6 years: College Scorecard, students who started in 2019. Net price for families earning $0 to $30,000: College Scorecard 2024-25, students with federal aid. State medians cover every operating bachelor's-degree college in the Scorecard file.

Every state median in the summary, with its source field

Figure	Value	File, field, year
Median admit rate, North Carolina (N = 52)	77.2%	`IPEDS ADM2023, median ADMSSN/APPLCN, bachelor's institutions, fall 2023`
Median out-of-state tuition and fees, public colleges, North Carolina (N = 16)	$23,619	`College Scorecard, median TUITIONFEE_OUT, public bachelor's institutions, 2025-26`