North Carolina Colleges: Tuition, Debt & Earnings (2026 stats)

Analysis & insights

EDsmart Data aggregates institution-level College Scorecard data for this profile. Highlights below compare local medians to U.S. and regional benchmarks.

Costs & borrowing

North Carolina median public in-state tuition is $2,613, about -52.6% vs the national median. Versus the Southeast region, tuition is -47.7%.

Median graduate debt is $20,000 (+48.9% above the U.S. median of $13,432, and +41.1% vs the Southeast regional median of $14,173). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #46 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #10 in Southeast of 12 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, North Carolina ranks #4 nationally (1 = lowest median sticker among states with data).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in North Carolina are $47,139, about -13.2% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 86.0% of its 8-year cohort as working and not enrolled—our closest federal proxy to a placement rate. The U.S. campus median is 87.9% (-1.9 pp). Formal job-placement statistics are not published in Scorecard; treat this as a comparative outcome indicator, not a hire guarantee.

First-year, full-time retention at the median campus is 72.7% vs a U.S. median of 76.3%—a leading indicator for completion and time-to-degree.

Loan repayment indicators at the median campus: 2-yr default 6.8% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 64.7% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, North Carolina ranks earnings #43 and employment proxy #34 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Lees-McRae College (91.5%), Lenoir-Rhyne University (91.0%), Western Carolina University (89.5%), Winston-Salem State University (89.3%), Chowan University (89.2%), Appalachian State University (89.1%), Mars Hill University (89.1%), Pfeiffer University (89.0%), Gardner-Webb University (88.8%), Wingate University (88.8%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within North Carolina, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $47,139 (34 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $46,752 (16 campuses). Public campuses often dominate enrollment while private nonprofits can show higher earnings medians at selective institutions.

Average institution-level completion rate across all sectors in North Carolina is 51.2% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 996,524 residents with some college but no credential in North Carolina (YoY change 1.50%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.