College ranking

Top colleges in North Carolina by 10-year ROI

College Scorecard + IPEDS Last updated: May 2026

Executive Summary

Bachelor’s-predominant institutions located in North Carolina with at least 200 students, sorted by the same 10-year ROI estimate used nationally. Duke University leads this list at $402,414 (10 Yr. ROI).

Leaders: top 3

Duke University

10 Yr. ROI $402,414

NC · Private nonprofit

Davidson College

10 Yr. ROI $332,754

NC · Private nonprofit

Wake Forest University

10 Yr. ROI $314,821

NC · Private nonprofit

Top 25 Top colleges in North Carolina by 10-year ROI

Rank	Institution	State	Control	Enrollment	10 Yr. ROI	Also see
1	Duke University	NC	Private nonprofit	6,442	$402,414	Grad 96.1% · Net $23,706
2	Davidson College	NC	Private nonprofit	1,867	$332,754	Grad 90.1% · Net $15,060
3	Wake Forest University	NC	Private nonprofit	5,485	$314,821	Grad 90.3% · Net $28,165
4	University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill	NC	Public	20,752	$309,720	Grad 91.1% · Net $11,305
5	Chamberlain University-North Carolina	NC	Private for-profit	202	$280,294	Grad 0.0% · Net $38,460
6	North Carolina State University at Raleigh	NC	Public	27,371	$273,000	Grad 84.9% · Net $16,486
7	University of North Carolina at Charlotte	NC	Public	24,453	$222,536	Grad 68.2% · Net $15,142
8	Elon University	NC	Private nonprofit	6,452	$203,858	Grad 81.4% · Net $35,785
9	East Carolina University	NC	Public	19,896	$196,652	Grad 63.4% · Net $16,880
10	Western Carolina University	NC	Public	10,024	$188,140	Grad 61.1% · Net $13,025
11	University of North Carolina Wilmington	NC	Public	14,922	$187,972	Grad 71.6% · Net $19,570
12	North Carolina A & T State University	NC	Public	12,182	$185,817	Grad 56.1% · Net $9,884
13	University of North Carolina at Greensboro	NC	Public	14,062	$184,542	Grad 57.9% · Net $12,291
14	Appalachian State University	NC	Public	19,444	$183,910	Grad 71.3% · Net $16,082
15	Winston-Salem State University	NC	Public	4,170	$180,334	Grad 47.2% · Net $12,817
16	University of North Carolina at Pembroke	NC	Public	5,330	$173,782	Grad 43.7% · Net $10,522
17	Fayetteville State University	NC	Public	5,762	$173,472	Grad 36.9% · Net $10,009
18	Elizabeth City State University	NC	Public	1,975	$171,124	Grad 46.2% · Net $8,048
19	Catawba College	NC	Private nonprofit	1,235	$160,657	Grad 48.2% · Net $15,993
20	Wingate University	NC	Private nonprofit	2,668	$160,196	Grad 43.3% · Net $21,511
21	University of Mount Olive	NC	Private nonprofit	1,796	$158,964	Grad 42.0% · Net $18,927
22	University of North Carolina Asheville	NC	Public	2,910	$157,868	Grad 51.5% · Net $14,999
23	Lenoir-Rhyne University	NC	Private nonprofit	1,359	$156,856	Grad 49.8% · Net $18,641
24	Campbell University	NC	Private nonprofit	2,680	$155,300	Grad 58.5% · Net $25,057
25	Meredith College	NC	Private nonprofit	1,188	$153,744	Grad 71.5% · Net $22,801

Method notes

Underlying institution file: EDsmart Data processed College Scorecard extract merged to the IPEDS 2024 directory for HBCU and Carnegie fields.
Cohort applied on this page: enrollment floor of 200 undergraduates; sorted highest first on 10 Yr. ROI; 50 campuses met every filter and the top 25 are published.
Ties on the ranked metric are broken by enrollment, then institution name, so ranks stay stable between rebuilds.
ROI column matches the processed college_roi_rankings series in this site build; see College Scorecard ROI methodology.
How the 10-year ROI figure is built: median earnings reported 6, 8, and 10 years after entry (years 7 and 9 linearly interpolated) are summed across years 6–10, then average annual net price × typical years enrolled (five for bachelor’s-predominant campuses) is subtracted. It is a nominal-dollar gap—not discounted to present value, and it does not subtract earnings foregone while enrolled or compare against a no-college baseline. Campuses reporting only one of the three earnings years are excluded from these tables.
School profile links use generated slugs; not every campus has a published profile page yet—use the Scorecard site as fallback.

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