North Carolina’s public universities are serving more students than ever this fall, with enrollment up by 2.2% over last year and 3.5% since 2022. UNC System campuses added more than 5,400 students this fall, with every public university in the state making gains in enrollment.
The growth comes after years of focused investment in low tuition, student support programs to encourage retention and graduation, and improvements to financial aid, transfer programs and online learning.
“We’ve worked hard to keep higher education affordable, to make sure students are graduating with great prospects and less debt,” said UNC System President Peter Hans. “Our universities are focused on delivering a valuable education that’s truly accessible for the people of this state, and that message is getting across.”
The UNC System’s enrollment growth comes against the backdrop of troubling national trends for higher education, including a decline in traditional college-aged students due to a falling birth rate. Across the United States, college enrollment peaked in 2010 and fell sharply during the pandemic. A smaller percentage of high school graduates is declaring higher education as their primary intent after graduation, and public confidence in higher education has declined in national surveys.
“We’ve been preparing for a more challenging demographic environment for a long time,” said David English, the UNC System’s senior vice president for academic affairs. “We need to reach a larger share of our high school graduates, make it easier for community college students to transfer, and make financial aid easier to access and understand. That’s long-range work, but you see it reflected in these enrollment numbers.”
Some of this year’s growth, English said, resulted from re-enrolling students who had previously stopped out of UNC System schools without a degree. A focused effort to reconnect with those students and offer a pathway to graduation helped boost overall enrollment at several institutions.
Public Historically Black Universities have benefited from changes to UNC System policy that allow more out-of-state students at UNC campuses with strong demand and open capacity. North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University is the largest HBCU in the country with more than 14,000 students, and North Carolina Central University had a 7.7% increase in students this fall.
“Our public HBCUs are tremendous assets for North Carolina, and they’re bringing in talented students from across the country,” Hans said. “That’s great news for those schools and for the state’s economy.”
The recent launch of a simpler, more generous scholarship is making higher education within reach of more North Carolina families. The Next NC Scholarship helps North Carolinians from households making $80,000 or less pursue higher education by covering more than half, if not all, of tuition and fees at any public university. And the System is launching NC College Connect, a pilot program that will simplify admissions at some universities and encourage more qualified high school graduates to pursue an affordable college degree.