North Carolina
Central University
Public College in Durham, NC. Six-year graduation rate 42%. Median 10-year earnings $42,968.
Students who entered North Carolina Central University land at a median of $42,968 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 42%, meaning about three in five students who start do not finish. Median debt at graduation reaches $28,250, heavy enough to shape the years right after the degree. It also moves people — 2.8% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Debt-to-income ratio 0.66 — elevated (above 0.60)
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 87%, North Carolina Central University takes nearly everyone who applies. With 18,368 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. A 11% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 3% of enrolled first-years submitted an ACT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | — | — |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | 19–22 | 48 (3%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at North Carolina Central University →Academics
42% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. First-year retention is 73% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention runs well ahead of completion, which means students are not leaving immediately; they are leaving somewhere between the second year and the finish line. The 33% transfer-out rate is high enough that a large share of this school's students are really passing through. The part-time picture is harder: 30% return, against 73% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 5,400 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $14,475 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $13,032 at the $0–30k band to $23,658 at $110k+. About 82% get grants averaging $11,326, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Most students borrow — 69% take federal loans to cover the gap.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 1,455 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $13,032 |
| $30–48k | $13,882 |
| $48–75k | $17,527 |
| $75–110k | $22,401 |
| $110k+ | $23,658 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 3,733 of these 5,400 students, totalling $25,832,133 — an average of $6,920 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Durham County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)