University of North Carolina at Pembroke

Public · Moderately Selective · NC

Photo: Jopparn (CC BY-SA 3.0)

School data & stats

TypePublic

LocationNC · South

SettingRural

Undergrads5,330

Student:faculty14:1

Outcomes

4-yr grad rate26.6%

6-yr grad rate43.5%

Drop-out rate28.4%

Study abroad—

Cost

In-state tuition$4k

Out-of-state tuition$8k

Application fee—

Community

Racial diversity66.9%

Gender diversity62.7%

International4.2%

Identity—

Overview

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke is a public university in rural southeastern North Carolina, founded in 1887 to educate American Indians and still closely tied to the Lumbee Tribe, whose homeland surrounds the campus. That heritage remains a defining part of the university's identity alongside its role as an accessible regional public university.

Academics

American Indian studies is a genuine academic specialty unavailable at most other universities, reflecting the campus's founding mission and its continued relationship with the Lumbee community. Nursing, education, and business are the university's other established undergraduate paths, taught within a traditional regional-university structure.

Campus & student life

The small-town, rural setting gives Pembroke a quiet, close-knit campus culture, with the Lumbee Tribe's presence and traditions visibly woven into campus life and events rather than treated as separate history.

Getting in

Admission is accessible and grade-driven, and the university participates in NC Promise, a state tuition-reduction program that shapes both its affordability profile and the makeup of its incoming class.

Worth knowing

The American Indian studies program and the university's Lumbee ties are a distinctive academic and cultural offering unmatched elsewhere in the UNC system, worth serious consideration for a student specifically interested in that field or heritage.

uncp.edu ↗

Admissions

Acceptance rate93.3%

Enrolled mid-50%SAT 970–1200 · ACT 18–23

Test policyoptional

Rec letters0

Deadlines (2026–27 cycle)

AdmissionRolling

Applying