AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
As college students gear up for classes, two North Carolina schools have been named top places to get a return on investment.
Read more Ex-couple’s scorched-earth battle for control of Rougemont castle ends with no winner
The University of North Carolina at Charlotte ranks No. 17 and Appalachian State University in Boone is No. 25 on a list of the nation’s “best-value public universities,” according to results published July 9.
To create the list, the personal finance website SmartAsset said it studied more than 500 public schools across the country, filtering out specialized colleges and universities. Using data from the U.S. Department of Education, it scored each school in three categories: costs for full-time undergraduates, six-year graduation rate and “the median earnings of students who received federal financial aid 10 years after first enrollment.”
“Sticker price alone does not determine value,” SmartAsset wrote in its report. “Outcomes can vary widely by school, meaning some public universities may offer stronger returns for students seeking manageable costs and solid career prospects.”
Of the North Carolina schools that made it onto the list, UNC Charlotte ranked highest at No. 17. At the school northeast of uptown, results show the cost — a metric that accounts for “tuition, books, fees, and living expenses” — was just over $23,000.
It turns out, the “below-median cost of attendance, median alumni earnings 10 years after first enrollment of $57,289 and a graduation rate of 68%” helped the school rank high, SmartAsset wrote in a news release.
Also on the list of best-value schools, Appalachian State University landed at No. 25. The campus is in the mountain town of Boone, a roughly 85-mile drive west from Winston-Salem.
App State was found to cost roughly $23,200 and have former students making nearly $52,000. In other words, the school boasted “high outcomes relative to a low cost of attendance,” according to SmartAsset.
Read more Heavy rain shuts down I-40/85 morning commute, causes crashes in Orange County
Beyond the top 25, East Carolina University in Greenville took the No. 39 spot on the list. The News & Observer asked SmartAsset how other North Carolina schools fared in the rankings and is awaiting a response.
It’s not the first time North Carolina has made its mark in college-related rankings. In June, six cities in the state landed on a list of the nation’s top places for recent graduates to live: Charlotte, Raleigh, Cary, Durham, Wilmington and Asheville.
Also this year, Chapel Hill and Boone ranked among the South’s best college towns and the nation’s most underrated college towns, The N&O previously reported.
On the latest list from SmartAsset, the No. 1 school for value was the University of Florida. Here are the places that rounded out the top five:
Questions about life in North Carolina? Or have a tip or story idea you’d like to share? The service journalism teams at The News & Observer and The Charlotte Observer want to hear from you.
You can submit your question by filling out this form.
This story was originally published July 23, 2026 at 11:36 AM with the headline “These 2 NC universities rank among the best in the US for value.”
Read more $7.4K at Panera Bread, tens of thousands on fine-dining: Cary’s pattern of food spending