Chapel Hill, NC · Public · Every figure is for a student starting in fall 2027. We work each one out again whenever we update the site.
How to pay for University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
What a year costs here, what brings it down, and what a SmartTuition plan could save a family like yours.
Paying for four years here
Four years here, after grants
$41,796
A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $8,000.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for UNC Chapel Hill, $99 →Best once your award letter arrives. No letter yet? Get the monthly email.
A family of four with good credit and $500 a month for college. How we worked these out ↓
A year at UNC Chapel Hill
| Full price, in state | $25,967 |
| Full price, out of state | $67,417 |
| After grants, at your income | $11,045 |
At this income, 2 of North Carolina's other 30 colleges cost less after grants, and 28 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
UNC Chapel Hill's promise. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says it covers 100% of what a family cannot pay. The conditions ↓
Pay less for college
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester.
At UNC Chapel Hill, our scenarios for North Carolina households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $6,500 over four years. How we worked this out ↓
Considering more than one college?
Put the schools you are considering on one list and we price each of them for your family. It is free. It asks what you earn and what you have saved, never your name.
Put your schools side by side →What University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill commits to
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says it covers 100% of what a family cannot pay.
“We work hard to keep Carolina affordable, and we're committed to meeting 100 percent of your family’s financial need.”
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill undergraduate admissions — verified 2026-09.
Conditions the school attaches to that commitment
- UNC's aid office says it meets need with grants, scholarships, loans and work-study, so a package can include loans.
- UNC works out need as the cost of attendance minus the family's Student Aid Index, and uses the CSS Profile for its own grants.
These are the school’s own qualifiers. A commitment quoted without them is not the commitment they made.
How we worked these out
The family
A family of four with good parent credit and $500 a month to put toward college, and the savings you pick. In state, the grants are what UNC Chapel Hill reports families at that income got, on average. Your own will differ, and a family with no aid pays close to the full price. Out of state, there are no grants: the price is before any scholarship from the college.
What a SmartTuition plan saves
The difference, over four years, between a SmartTuition plan and the standard approach: savings first, then loans for the rest. It counts loan interest and the federal tax credit.
The $6,500 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in UNC Chapel Hill's own scenarios. Each scenario is a household that lives in North Carolina, with an income from $45,000 to $200,000 and savings of none, $40,000 or $100,000 in a 529. We price UNC Chapel Hill at the aid it reports for that income.
Every scenario has parents with good credit and $500 a month toward college. The card above uses the same two. A scenario where the parents would borrow more than $65,000 is left out.
The prices by income
- They describe students who got aid.
- “Over $110,000” has no upper limit, so it averages families just over $110,000 with far wealthier ones. A family at $115,000 should expect to pay less than it shows.
- Each range is reported on its own, so the prices do not always rise with income.
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's own 2026-27 tuition and fees, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 3.0% a year. Housing, food and books are the College Scorecard's. The grants are the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (2025-26 figures), carried forward the same way. Each price after grants is the cost less those grants. The out-of-state figure uses the published out-of-state tuition instead. The average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill fixes tuition for four years for every class that starts in fall 2016 or later, under its Tuition Guarantee Program. For students who start in fall 2027, our four-year figures keep that flat and let the rest of the cost rise.
SmartTuition.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- Elizabeth City State University$7,327 a year
- Fayetteville State University$9,709 a year
- UNC Chapel Hill$11,045 a year
- Western Carolina University$13,212 a year
- UNC Pembroke$13,449 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every North Carolina college →