University of North Carolina at Asheville Overview

University of North Carolina at Asheville is a public institution located in Asheville, North Carolina. The surrounding area of the school is a good match for students who enjoy city life.

What Is University of North Carolina at Asheville Known For?

• The highest award offered at UNCA is the master's degree.
• In 2019-2020, 74% of the faculty were full-time.
• Students who graduate from UNCA with a bachelor's degree make about $42,027 a year. That's 3% more than those who graduate from other schools.

University of North Carolina at Asheville Rankings

These rankings may look different from those published by other outlets, because we use an outcomes-based approach rather than a subjective one. We get our data from a number of places, including the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and the College Scorecard. For more information, check out our rankings and methodology page.

Program Level Awards

These are highlights of some of the most noteworthy awards granted to specific programs at UNCA.

Rank	Ranking Name	Share
#23	Most Popular General Visual & Performing Arts Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#27	Most Popular General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#58	Most Popular Natural Resources Conservation Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It
#87	Most Popular Natural Resources & Conservation Bachelor’s Degree Schools	Tweet It - Post It

Where Is University of North Carolina at Asheville?

Contact details for UNCA are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	One University Heights, Asheville, NC 28804-8510
Phone:	828-251-6600
Website:	https://www.unca.edu
Facebook:	https://www.facebook.com/UNCAsheville
Twitter:	https://twitter.com/UncAvl

How Do I Get Into UNCA?

You can apply to UNCA online at: https://www.unca.edu/admission/apply/

Admission Requirements for UNCA

Submission	Required?
High School GPA	required
High School Rank	required
High School Transcript	required
College Prep Program	required
Recommendations	required
SAT or ACT Scores	required
TOEFL	required

How Hard Is It To Get Into UNCA?

UNCA has an acceptance rate of 79%, which means that is not quite as selective as some other schools. Still, you'll need good grades and a solid application if you want to be admitted.

Approximately 36% of accepted students are men and 64% are women. The acceptance rate for men is 76%, and the acceptance rate for women is 82%.

Average Test Scores

About 57% of students accepted to UNCA submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 540 and 650. Math scores were between 520 and 620.

UNCA received ACT scores from 56% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT English scores ranged between 20 and 29. Math scores were between 19 and 26. Composite scores were between 21 and 28.

Can I Afford University of North Carolina at Asheville?

The overall average net price of UNCA is $28,482. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At UNCA, approximately 52% of students took out student loans averaging $6,119 a year. That adds up to $24,476 over four years for those students.

The student loan default rate at UNCA is 5.8%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you'll be able to pay back your student loans.

University of North Carolina at Asheville Undergraduate Student Diversity

There are 3,358 undergraduate students at UNCA, with 2,870 being full-time and 488 being part-time.

There are also 5 graduate students at the school.

Gender Diversity

Of the 2,870 full-time undergraduates at UNCA, 43% are male and 57% are female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

The racial-ethnic breakdown of University of North Carolina at Asheville students is as follows.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	55
Black or African American	160
Hispanic or Latino	247
White	2,082
International Students	25
Other Races/Ethnicities	301

Geographic Diversity

North Carolina students aren't the only ones who study at University of North Carolina at Asheville. At this time, 24 states are represented by the student population at the school.

Over 17 countries are represented at UNCA. The most popular countries sending students to the school are United Kingdom, Ecuador, and Albania.

Online Learning at University of North Carolina at Asheville

In 2019-2020, 2,896 students took at least one online class at the school.

The following chart shows how the online learning population at UNCA has changed over the last few years.

Online Growth Rankings of UNCA

The average growth rate over the last four years of online students at University of North Carolina at Asheville was 168.4%. This is the #311 largest growth rate of all schools that are only partially online. This refers to all students at UNCA regardless of major.

When we speak of partially online, we are referring to schools whose online population is less than 50% of its total student body. Mostly online refers to those with online populations greater than or equal to 50%.

University of North Carolina at Asheville Undergraduate Concentrations

The table below shows the number of awards for each concentration.

Major	Bachelor’s	Master’s	TOTAL
General Psychology	93	0	93
Natural Resources Conservation	60	0	60
Communication & Media Studies	55	0	55
Public Health	51	0	51
Business Administration & Management	47	0	47
General English Literature	44	0	44
General Visual & Performing Arts	43	0	43
General Biology	41	0	41
Computer Science	37	0	37
Fine & Studio Arts	34	0	34
Sociology	31	0	31
General Engineering	28	0	28
Liberal Arts General Studies	19	9	28
Music	20	0	20
Economics	19	0	19
Political Science & Government	19	0	19
Accounting	17	0	17
Mathematics	17	0	17
Chemistry	17	0	17
Anthropology	14	0	14
History	12	0	12
Drama & Theater Arts	8	0	8
Physics	7	0	7
Classical Languages & Literature	5	0	5
Linguistics & Comparative Literature	5	0	5
Philosophy	5	0	5
Atmospheric Sciences & Meteorology	5	0	5
Ethnic Studies	3	0	3
Religious Studies	3	0	3
Germanic Languages	2	0	2
Romance Languages	2	0	2
TOTAL	763	9	772

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• Image Credit: By Caroline Culler (User:Wgreaves) under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.