2023 Most Veteran Friendly in North Carolina for Education for a Master’s

With all of the options veterans have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Most Veteran Friendly in North Carolina for Education for a Master’s” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

General Education is the 41st most popular major in the country with 29,810 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, general education graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $48,719 and had an average of $23,394 in loans still to pay off.

Across North Carolina, there were 255 general education graduates with average earnings and debt of $41,448 and $24,608 respectively.

This year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in North Carolina for Education for a Master’s” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in general education. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great general education programs and a strong support system for veterans and active service members.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the general education program at the school, veteran affordability, and veteran satisfaction. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank General Education Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Most Veteran Friendly in North Carolina for Education for a Master’s” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Most Veteran Friendly in North Carolina for Education for a Master’s

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Veteran Friendly in North Carolina for Education for a Master’s”.

Top 3 Best General Education Master’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in North Carolina

1

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, North Carolina

1 GI Bill® Students**

#1 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in North Carolina for Education for a Master’s list. This large school is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and it awarded 12 masters’s education degrees in 2020-2021.

UNC Chapel Hill not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best General Education Master’s Degree Schools in North Carolina” list.Among the 30,092 students enrolled at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, 1 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $0. In addition to receiving other benefits, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 95%.

Read More…

2

University of North Carolina at Wilmington
Wilmington, North Carolina

1,169 GI Bill® Students**

#2 in overall quality

YES Student Veterans Organization

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of North Carolina at Wilmington. The school came in at #2 for the Most Veteran Friendly in North Carolina for Education for a Master’s. Located in Wilmington, North Carolina, this fairly large public school handed out 67 degrees to qualified masters’s education students in 2020-2021.

UNCW also took the #2 spot in our “Best General Education Master’s Degree Schools in North Carolina” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 1,169 of the 17,915 students enrolled at University of North Carolina at Wilmington were GI Bill® students, of which 659 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $5,129. On top of their other funding sources, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read More…

3

Western Carolina University
Cullowhee, North Carolina

439 GI Bill® Students**

#3 in overall quality

$3,242 Average GI Bill® Award

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Western Carolina University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in North Carolina for Education for a Master’s list. Cullowhee, North Carolina is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out masters’s education degrees to 41 students in 2020-2021.

WCU also took the #3 spot in our “Best General Education Master’s Degree Schools in North Carolina” ranking.Of the 12,243 students enrolled at Western Carolina University, 439 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 182 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $3,242. In addition to receiving other benefits, 3 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.

[Read full report on veteran student life at WCU]](/colleges/western-carolina-university/student-life/veterans/)

• Best General Education Master’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in the Southeast Region
• Best General Education Master’s Degree Colleges for Veterans

Notes and References

References

• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Veteran-specific data can be found at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• **GI Bill® student total includes all chapters of the GI Bill® program (e.g., Post-9/11, Montgomery GI Bill, Reserve Education Assistance Program, and Veteran Readiness and Employment)
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to KOKUYO.