🎓 College profile
University of North Carolina Wilmington
NC · Public · Mid-size city · 17,370 applicants 2023
🎯 Parent/student verdict
LikelyAccessible for most applicants. Major value play for in-state residents.
✅ Best for
- Solid academic profile (SAT 1220–1360 · ACT 24–28 middle 50% + typically a 3.7+ unweighted GPA in rigorous coursework)
- In-state residents (tuition ~$7,277 — major value play)
- Students focused on Health Professions (the school's signature program)
- Research-curious students (R2 — active research output)
🎯 The reality
- Bottom-quartile academic profile if: SAT below 1220, or ACT below 24, or unweighted GPA below ~3.50 (admitted-class quartiles; GPA floor is a calibrated heuristic where CDS not yet on file)
- Out-of-state tuition is 3.3× the in-state rate
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price by income, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
🏛️ Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
📊 Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
💰 True ROI
6.8× returnWhat families actually pay (after aid) vs. the sticker — and how 10-yr earnings stack against the real cost. Most sites quote sticker; we quote what families really pay.
"True ROI" = (10-yr median earnings × 10) ÷ (actual 4-yr net price). The actual net is from Scorecard (average across all families); your family's net price will vary by income — see the breakdown above. Earnings are 10 years after enrollment (Scorecard PP-FOS, all majors combined).
💰 What families actually pay
Net price by family income
Net price = sticker price minus grant aid. This is what families actually pay out-of-pocket after scholarships and need-based aid — the most honest affordability signal there is. At University of North Carolina Wilmington, the average net price is $20,109/yr across all families.
🔎 Earning over $110K? The federal brackets above lump every family from $110K to $1M+ into one row.
Need-based aid usually phases out somewhere between $200K and $300K at private colleges — but the exact threshold varies a lot. For a precise estimate based on your family's actual income, assets, and your student's academic profile, use University of North Carolina Wilmington's official Net Price Calculator:
Get your family's estimate from University of North Carolina Wilmington →Opens on University of North Carolina Wilmington's site. Takes about 10–15 minutes; have your most recent tax return handy.
Source: College Scorecard (NPT41-NPT45). Net price = total cost of attendance minus federal, state, institutional, and other grants. Some brackets may be suppressed for student-privacy reasons (small cohorts). Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates only. The $110K+ ceiling is a federal data limitation — Department of Education hasn't refreshed these brackets since the early 2010s.
📚 What students study here
Most popular majors at University of North Carolina Wilmington
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what University of North Carolina Wilmington actually graduates — not just what it markets.
Source: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a), bachelor's-level first majors aggregated to 2-digit CIP family. Share is of these top 5 only — not all majors.
💼 Top programs by earnings
Highest-earning majors at University of North Carolina Wilmington
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major (CIP code). From the federal College Scorecard program-level outcomes.
| Major (CIP) | Credential | Cohort | 1-yr earnings | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Computer Science. | Bachelor's Degree | 86 | $66,977 | $88,219 |
| Health Professions and Related Clinical Sciences, Other. | Bachelor's Degree | 52 | $56,924 | $86,654 |
| Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing. | Bachelor's Degree | 739 | $74,463 | $86,606 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | Bachelor's Degree | 666 | $48,369 | $75,512 |
| Computer and Information Sciences, General. | Bachelor's Degree | 40 | $54,105 | $71,964 |
| Mathematics. | Bachelor's Degree | 20 | — | $66,941 |
| Chemistry. | Bachelor's Degree | 43 | $44,473 | $65,982 |
| Biology, General. | Bachelor's Degree | 185 | $32,925 | $60,750 |
| Public Health. | Bachelor's Degree | 120 | $36,458 | $60,722 |
| Geological and Earth Sciences/Geosciences. | Bachelor's Degree | 19 | $38,459 | $60,414 |
For full college-vs-major comparison + ROI leaderboards, see /college-outcomes →
🤖 AI program signal
AI + computing education at University of North Carolina Wilmington
Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →
⚖️ Compare side-by-side
University of North Carolina Wilmington vs. another college
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