After World War 2, North Carolina opened many community colleges across the state, offering evening classes to returning veterans. One of them was in Charlotte, which morphed and grew, eventually becoming part of the UNC system in 1965. Today, the University of North Carolina Charlotte is a contained, urban campus serving 24,000 undergraduates and 6000 grad students. They've built 13 new buildings in the past 7 years and it is the fastest growing university in the UNC system.

The university has 8 colleges with many different majors. I was told, in fact, that the College of Arts and Sciences just split into the College of Science and the College of Humanities & Earth and Social Science. This is not even yet reflected on the website. I can't help but wonder if this is in anticipation of future growth.

Nursing is very popular here, with a 94% NCLEX pass rate, and UNC Charlotte is the #1 producer of Computer Science degrees for women in the state of North Carolina. Engineering is also very strong here; it's the largest engineering school in the Southeast. But despite that, engineering students are usually in classes of 18 to 24 students. Business is also very strong. Here's a fun fact: Charlotte is the second largest banking and financial center in the US after Wall Street. Who knew? So internships and job opportunities abound for students pursuing careers in banking and finance. UNC charlotte is also one of only 2 universities in the state that offer an accredited architecture program.

Nursing, Engineering, Computer Science, and Business are the most competitive majors to apply into, and if you don't make the cut, you may be placed into the University College for those who are undecided. So if you don't get your first-choice major, you can still be admitted.

With an out-of-state all-in cost of $33-35,000 per year, UNC Charlotte is an enormous value. But be aware: students must apply for housing immediately after their acceptance in order to ensure that they have housing freshmen year, even if they'reaccepted as early as the fall. If they decide to enroll elsewhere later, they lose their housing deposit, but a least they'll be assured of housing should they choose to attend!