University of
North Carolina Asheville
Public College in Asheville, NC. Six-year graduation rate 54%. Median 10-year earnings $44,030.
Ten years after entry, the median University of North Carolina Asheville student earns $44,030 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. The six-year graduation rate is 55%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Graduates carry a median of $20,500 in debt — in line with the national norm.
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
- ! Mobility score 0.7 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 92% of applicants are accepted. The applicant pool runs to 7,378, typical for a school of this reach. Only 11% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. 7% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the class.
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 | 600–700 | 50 (7%) |
| SAT Math | 570–660 | |
| ACT Composite | 23–29 | 124 (17%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at University of North Carolina Asheville →Academics
Completion is middling: 55% finish inside six years. First-year retention is 72% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. With 34% transferring out, this functions substantially as a stepping stone. At 13:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,790 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $13,798 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $8,219 at the $0–30k band to $18,786 at $110k+. 84% of students receive grant aid, averaging $7,773 — common but not automatic. 40% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 627 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 | $8,219 |
| $30–48k | $8,735 |
| $48–75k | $11,570 |
| $75–110k | $15,854 |
| $110k+ | $18,786 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,117 of these 2,790 students, totalling $6,842,449 — an average of $6,126 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Buncombe 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)