Degrees Available through the University of North Carolina Online System
The University of North Carolina Online System appears in our ranking of the 30 Best Colleges Online.
The University of North Carolina Online System offers full degree programs for online students. More commonly called UNC Online, it allows students to take individual classes and to finish the degrees they previously started as well as start and finish programs online. More than 90 degrees programs are available for undergrads that take as little as 18 months to finish. Students can choose from majors such as agricultural education, criminal justice, environmental health and safety, and sociology. There is also an online workforce education and development program available that prepares students for working in vocational settings.
Graduate degree programs are available from schools such as UNC Charlotte too. That campus offers multiple education programs, including special education and middle grades education. While the first programs help students work with those who have learning and other types of disabilities, the second program focuses on working with kids before they reach high school. The criminal justice program is available from Fayetteville State University and allows graduate students to study criminal justice administration and related fields. There is also a Master of Business Administration (MBA) program available online. It takes only 12 months to complete and includes courses in economics, human resource management, project management, and business law.
There are 12 online doctoral programs too that require up to 24 months of work. Some of these programs are add-ons that students can complete without earning a full degree. Western Carolina University offers a program for teachers to help them work with gifted and talented students. The accounting program offered by North Carolina State University takes up to 72 months to finish and accepts students with accounting undergrad degrees and those who do not have any accounting experience. Public health leadership, elementary education, business administration, and kinesiology are some of the other doctoral programs available online.
The University of North Carolina Online System also offers several advanced certificate programs online for students from different campuses. These programs accept students who have either a bachelor’s degree or a master’s degree. The business analytics program takes up to 12 months to complete, but many of the programs allow students to finish in around nine months. The longest certificate programs run for 24 to 36 months and allow students to study school administration, renewable energy assessment and development, teaching middle grades and secondary education, clinical nursing and nurse-midwifery.
About the University of North Carolina Online System
The University of North Carolina Online System is a system that consists of college and university campuses from across the state. All of the campus that participate in this program are state or public schools. Also called UNC Online, it allows students to access information and find out more about online programs in one convenient place. Not only can students view all the programs that are available at any level, but they can see which schools are part of the system. UNC Online also allows students to check out the individual classes that they can take online and see how they will complete the exam requirements in each program.
University of North Carolina Online System Accreditation Details
UNC Online has the same accreditation that all of the participating schools have. This includes the regional accreditation held by many of those campuses from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). Any student who needs financial aid can get help when they complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) because of that accreditation, but it also allows them to transfer credits to and from the online system. Many of the online degree programs available have accreditation too.
University of North Carolina Online System Application Requirements
When students visit the UNC Online System website, they can view all the degree programs available at each level and rank those programs based on cost and other factors. To apply though, they will need to select a program and visit the website of the college or university that offers that program. The application process for online undergrads will usually include an application that students complete online. They will then need to make sure that the university receives official transcripts from all the schools they previously attended and their SAT or ACT scores.
Graduate students generally need to submit an application but will need to meet more requirements too. Some programs only accept those with a college/undergraduate grade point average of 2.5 to 3.0 or higher and students who have a bachelor’s degree in a similar field. They also need to meet any application requirements that the college or university has, which can include letters of recommendation from academic and/or professional references, a personal essay or goals statement, a copy of the student’s most recent resume and a GRE score. Some of the online programs may request an interview with faculty members from that department too. Most of the online doctoral programs have the same requirements.
Tuition and Financial Aid
To find out how much they will pay for an online program, students should look at what each campus charges. All the campuses that are part of UNC Online charge different rates. Some programs charge rates of between $2,300 and $3,400 per year for North Carolina undergrads, but the cost can rise to more than $13,000 a year in some programs. Undergrads who are not in-state residents can pay as much as $21,000 a year or more. Graduate students will find that programs charge rates that start at $3,000 per year for North Carolina residents and $11,000 per year for nonresidents.
The NCU Online System does not offer standard financial aid because students get that aid from the schools they attend. Once they apply to those campuses, they can submit the FAFSA. The financial aid that they get will depend on whether they enroll on a part-time or full-time basis and how much help they need. Most of these schools offer financial aid packages that include the same loans and grants that traditional students get from the federal government such as a Pell grant and a direct loan. Online students can qualify for scholarships from those schools too. These financial aid options can help students afford the costs of one of the degree programs available from the University of North Carolina Online System.