Winston-Salem, NC · Private · 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 Wake Forest University
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
$51,521
A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $5,100.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for Wake Forest University, $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 Wake Forest University
| Full price | $97,667 |
| After grants, at your income | $13,701 |
34% of first-year students here got a grant or scholarship from the college in 2023-24, $60,402 on average.
At this income, 6 of North Carolina's other 30 colleges cost less after grants, and 24 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
Wake Forest University's promise. Wake Forest University 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 Wake Forest University, our scenarios for North Carolina households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $5,900 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 Wake Forest University commits to
Wake Forest University says it covers 100% of what a family cannot pay.
“Wake Forest University meets 100% of demonstrated financial need for eligible students.”
Wake Forest University financial aid office — verified 2026-09.
Conditions the school attaches to that commitment
- Wake Forest says this is for eligible students.
These are the school’s own qualifiers. A commitment quoted without them is not the commitment they made.
Published guarantees you may qualify for
We do not assume you qualify for any of these, and our plans never bank on them. Check each against your own situation with the aid office.
North Carolina Gateway to Wake Forest — tuition-free for North Carolina families under $200,000 with typical assets, from fall 2026
Household income up to $200,000. Covers tuition. Also requires “typical assets” — a test we cannot evaluate for you.
- For undergraduates from North Carolina, beginning in fall 2026.
“Wake Forest University has announced that undergraduate students from North Carolina whose families make less than $200,000 per year and have typical assets will attend tuition-free, beginning in the fall of 2026.”
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 Wake Forest University reports families at that income got, on average. Your own will differ, and a family with no aid pays close to the full price.
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 $5,900 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in Wake Forest University'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 Wake Forest University 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.
Grants from the college
How many first-year students got a grant from Wake Forest University, and the average, are the Department of Education's figures for full-time students who started in 2023-24. They cover every income. The prices after grants already count these grants, so don't take them off again. The Department of Education's page for Wake Forest University →
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: Wake Forest University's own 2026-27 tuition, fees, housing, food and books, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 4.0% a year. 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 average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.
SmartTuition.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Wake Forest University. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- UNC Pembroke$13,449 a year
- NC A&T$13,522 a year
- Wake Forest University$13,701 a year
- Winston-Salem State University$13,984 a year
- UNC Greensboro$14,213 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every North Carolina college →