College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC · Public · Bachelor-granting · 20,752 undergrads · 15% admitted

Do students finish?

91% complete

Most students who start here finish.

What does it cost?

$26,055/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships. ~$104,220 over four years if you finish on time.

What former students go on to earn

The middle 50% of students who received federal aid, measured 10 years after they entered (an earlier entering class — not a guarantee, and not limited to those who graduated). Earnings vary enormously by field of study.

$72,200 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $48,337 median $72,200 75th pct $112,339

84% earn more than a typical high-school graduate (the dashed line above, $28,000 — a fixed, somewhat dated federal benchmark) ten years on.

Your major matters more than your school

The school-wide figure above blends every major together — but pay varies enormously by program. Pick a degree level (and search your major) to compare like-for-like.

Read these on their own terms. Program pay is measured 1 year after completing the program (early career, graduates only) — not the same as the school-wide number above, which is 10 years after a student first enrolled. Don't compare a program figure to the school figure; use the programs to compare majors to each other.

41 Bachelor's programs · $22,322 to $74,938 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Business Administration, Management and Operations.Bachelor's $74,938 $14,239

Computer Science.Bachelor's $74,162 $13,500

Applied Mathematics.Bachelor's $64,899 $14,135

Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing.Bachelor's $60,514 $19,802

Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions.Bachelor's $58,068 —

Information Science/Studies.Bachelor's $57,392 $13,197

Economics.Bachelor's $57,311 $14,135

Biomedical/Medical Engineering.Bachelor's $56,387 $15,000

Dental Support Services and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $53,510 $11,000

Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions.Bachelor's $52,169 $17,500

Mathematics.Bachelor's $47,767 $15,127

Physics.Bachelor's $43,015 $17,150

Health and Medical Administrative Services.Bachelor's $40,016 —

Public Policy Analysis.Bachelor's $39,751 $14,000

Human Resources Management and Services.Bachelor's $39,592 $12,750

Communication and Media Studies.Bachelor's $37,726 $14,625

Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution.Bachelor's $37,050 $14,000

Political Science and Government.Bachelor's $36,613 $14,569

Philosophy.Bachelor's $36,042 $14,618

Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Levels and Methods.Bachelor's $33,646 $12,000

Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities.Bachelor's $33,170 $13,000

Romance Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics.Bachelor's $33,146 $13,379

Chemistry.Bachelor's $32,313 $14,000

Geography and Cartography.Bachelor's $30,398 —

Sociology.Bachelor's $30,367 $14,050

Religion/Religious Studies.Bachelor's $29,606 $12,550

Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies.Bachelor's $29,499 $11,364

Natural Resources Conservation and Research.Bachelor's $29,460 $12,000

Psychology, General.Bachelor's $28,990 $13,999

Public Health.Bachelor's $28,977 —

History.Bachelor's $28,703 $14,250

Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences.Bachelor's $28,241 —

Area Studies.Bachelor's $28,175 $13,261

Linguistic, Comparative, and Related Language Studies and Services.Bachelor's $27,479 $16,782

Anthropology.Bachelor's $27,222 $12,500

Sports, Kinesiology, and Physical Education/Fitness.Bachelor's $26,942 $16,500

English Language and Literature, General.Bachelor's $25,909 $14,794

Music.Bachelor's $25,813 $18,007

Biology, General.Bachelor's $24,522 $15,000

Fine and Studio Arts.Bachelor's $22,368 $11,599

Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft.Bachelor's $22,322 $15,827

The Dept. of Education omits programs with too few graduates (to protect privacy), so not every major appears. Pay is a median for federally-aided graduates. Full program detail on the official Scorecard.

Typical federal loan debt

$12,989

≈ 18% of one year's typical earnings here

This counts federal student loans only — not private loans, Parent PLUS loans, or family savings, so the true cost of borrowing is usually higher.

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is an institution-wide median from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. It is not a prediction of what you would earn or owe — a computer-science and a fine-arts graduate of the same school can earn wildly different amounts, and your field of study matters more than your school. It is not a figure for any one program, not proof the school caused the outcome (selective schools admit students who would earn more anyway), and not a "best college" ranking. Earnings and debt cover federally-aided students.

→ The number that actually answers "worth it" is earnings by major — see the by-major breakdown above (76 programs at this school).

Also available: structured data (JSON-LD) · plain text · JSON. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (2026-06-10 release). · school website