2023 Best Value Colleges for Engineering-Related Fields (Income $0-$30k) in North Carolina

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in North Carolina For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Engineering-Related Fields is the 112th most popular major in the country with 6,736 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, engineering-related fields graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $77,404 and had an average of $26,200 in loans still to pay off.

Across North Carolina, there were 202 engineering-related fields graduates with average earnings and debt of $94,328 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in North Carolina For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in engineering-related fields. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent engineering-related fields programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the engineering-related fields program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in North Carolina For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in North Carolina For Those Making $0-$30k

The colleges and universities below are the best for north carolina engineering-related fields students whose families make $0-$30k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Engineering-Related Fields (Income $0-$30k) in North Carolina

1

Duke University
Durham, North Carolina

#1 in overall quality

$371 Average Net Price

$71,290 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in North Carolina For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, Duke University landed the #1 spot on the list. Duke University is located in Durham, North Carolina and, has a fairly large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 130 ’s engineering-related fields degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our north carolina engineering-related fields students whose families make $0-$30k list, Duke has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Engineering-Related Fields Schools in North Carolina” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Duke University is $371 for North Carolina Engineering-Related Fields students whose families make $0-$30k.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Read more about Engineering-Related Fields at Duke University

2

East Carolina University
Greenville, North Carolina

#2 in overall quality

$11,260 Average Net Price

$44,403 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend East Carolina University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in North Carolina For Those Making $0-$30k. East Carolina University is a large school located in Greenville, North Carolina that handed out 44 ’s engineering-related fields degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our north carolina engineering-related fields students whose families make $0-$30k list, ECU has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Engineering-Related Fields Schools in North Carolina” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for East Carolina University is $11,260 for North Carolina Engineering-Related Fields students whose families make $0-$30k.

Full ECU Engineering-Related Fields Report

3

University of North Carolina at Charlotte
Charlotte, North Carolina

#3 in overall quality

$12,751 Average Net Price

$46,346 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Engineering-Related Fields Schools in North Carolina For Those Making $0-$30k. University of North Carolina at Charlotte is a large school located in Charlotte, North Carolina that handed out 28 ’s engineering-related fields degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UNC Charlotte, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Engineering-Related Fields Schools in North Carolina” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of North Carolina at Charlotte is $12,751 for north carolina engineering-related fields students whose families make $0-$30k.

With a freshman retention rate of 85%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 4.4% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read more about Engineering-Related Fields at University of North Carolina at Charlotte

• Best Value Colleges for Engineering-Related Fields (Income $0-$30k) in the Southeast Region
• Best Value Colleges for Engineering-Related Fields (Income $0-$30k)

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).
• 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

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• 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.