by our College Data Analytics TeamMany students are not billed the full, advertised sticker price of a school. Instead, they will be given a financial aid offer that will include a combination of scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. The total cost of going to University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can seem tremendous, but do not forget that almost all students are given some form of financial help.
Just what financial aid solutions can UNC Chapel Hill deliver, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep reading for answers. Keep going to find out what amount of financial assistance will be accessible to you.
Eligibility for aid and scholarships is driven mostly by your household’s income and need. The figures below will help you estimate the aid you might receive from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Financial assistance, available as scholarships, loans, and work-study, is a way schools lower the price of attendance so many students can enroll. Some kinds of aid are clearly preferable to others, and outcomes differ across students.
Looking at the entering class at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 59% of the incoming full-time class was awarded financial aid (about 2749 incoming students).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 38% | $17,814 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 35% | $13,927 |
| Federal Pell grants | 18% | $6,056 |
| State/local grants | 16% | $4,798 |
| Federal student loans | 12% | $4,550 |
Because grants and scholarships do not have to be repaid, they are the most sought-after type of financial aid. At UNC Chapel Hill, around 50% of undergraduates were awarded an average grant or scholarship of $16,499 (among about 10416 students).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 50% | $16,499 |
| Federal Pell grants | 20% | $5,831 |
| Federal student loans | 13% | $5,000 |
Title-IV recipients living on campus saw average grant aid of $14,400.
Since aid is largely need-based, the real cost of attendance falls steeply for lower-income families.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $3,994 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $8,146 |
| Over $75,000 | $22,511 |
These figures reflect what title-IV aid recipients pay after grant and scholarship aid is applied.
Net price is the average annual cost after grants and scholarships are subtracted from the published cost of attendance — the figure closest to what a typical aid-receiving student actually pays.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $11,655 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $12,983 |
For a personalized estimate based on your family’s financial situation, use UNC Chapel Hill’s online cost calculator: studentaid.unc.edu/net-price-calculator/.
A typical borrower at UNC Chapel Hill leaves with $12,989 of federal borrowing.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $12,989 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $14,000 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $148.42/mo |
That monthly figure reflects the median graduate debt repaid on a standard 10-year federal schedule.
Looking only at the median can be misleading because it hides the spread. The four reference points below map the debt distribution at UNC Chapel Hill.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $3,856 |
| 25th percentile | $7,500 |
| 75th percentile | $22,000 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $27,000 |
The figures below break down median federal debt by income tier, first-generation status, and dependency.
Debt by Income Tier
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $7,636 |
| Middle income | $12,500 |
| High income | $14,500 |
First-Gen vs Continuing-Gen Median Debt
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $12,000 |
| Continuing-generation students | $13,500 |
Dependent vs Independent Students
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $13,000 |
| Independent students | $12,500 |
The figure below distills the debt data into a single burden category for UNC Chapel Hill.
Stafford loans are the federal government’s primary direct undergraduate lending program. These figures summarize annual Stafford program activity at UNC Chapel Hill:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 46927 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $1,508,798,659 |
The GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the main federal aid routes for veterans and service members.
GI Bill volume
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 823 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $23,143,416 |
| Average GI Bill amount per recipient | $28,121 |
Active-duty Tuition Assistance recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 24 |
| Total DoD amount | $54,250 |
| Average DoD amount per recipient | $2,260 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.