RALEIGH — Highlights from the UNC System in 2025 included enrollment growth, a possible tuition hike and several schools garnering positive free speech rankings.
The UNC System saw record student enrollment gains this year, with preliminary student enrollment reported at 256,438 for 2025, a 3.4% increase over 2024. The 2025 total enrollment count is more than 31,500 higher than a decade ago and shows a continued rebound following the COVID-19 pandemic enrollment level drops in 2021 (244,500) and 2022 (239,663).
The UNC Chapel Hill Board of Trustees approved a 3% tuition rate hike for in-state undergraduate students and 10% increase for out-of-state undergraduate students. The 3% increase translates to an added $211 for in-state students, and the 10% hike means an additional $4,320 for out-of-state undergraduates. The UNC System Board of Governors will still need to approve any increase and is expected to take up the issue in early 2026.
The UNC System has kept tuition rates frozen for the past eight years. The idea of a possible 3% hike had been floated by UNC Board of Governors Chair Wendy Murphy during that body’s September meeting. Murphy cited inflation as driving a potential tuition hike.
A push for more attention to civics, particularly for K-12 students, is the focus of the UNC Chapel Hill’s School of Civic Life and Leadership’s launch of a “Summer Civics Institutes for Educators and High School Students.” The civics institutes will begin next summer and are funded by a grant from the U.S. Department of Education.
The North Carolina Community Colleges System (NCCCS) kicked off 2025 with five new board members: Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt, state Treasurer Brad Briner, state Labor Commissioner Luke Farley, entrepreneur Robert B. Moore Jr. and Autumn Queen, president of the North Carolina Comprehensive Community College Student Government Association.
Like the UNC System, NCCCS also saw enrollment increases this year. According to NCCCS data dashboards, there were 631,890 students enrolled in 2024-25, an increase from 615,387 in 2023-24.
Another NCCCS highlight was a 10% increase in enrollment and a 24% increase in the number of credentials earned through the Career and College Promise (CPP) program in 2023-24. The CCP is a dual-enrollment program for high school students to enroll in college courses for credit.
NCCCS announced it will be searching for a new president to replace Jeff Cox, who in August announced he would retire in 2026.
Free speech in UNC schools
Free speech on college campuses is still a major issue according to the 2025 Free Speech Rankings report issued by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which found 64% of schools surveyed receiving an “F” for free speech.
Of the 10 North Carolina colleges in the report, three made the top 10 for best free speech climate: UNC Greensboro (sixth), Appalachian State (eighth) and NC State (10th). The rest landed in the top 50: East Carolina (14th), UNC Chapel Hill (19th), UNC Charlotte (20th) and Duke (37th). North Carolina A&T was ranked 51st, followed by Davidson (78th) and Wake Forest (186th).
Thirty-four percent of students said using violence to stop someone from speaking on campus is acceptable, “at least in rare cases,” according to the report. That’s an increase of 10 points from four years ago. The rate was higher for North Carolina students — 36% said using violence to stop someone from speaking on campus is acceptable.
Education Department, Title IX, Title VI
President Donald Trump’s Department of Education issued a Dear Colleague letter to the states directing the elimination of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs from public schools by Feb. 28 or risk losing federal funding.
Related to DEI, the group Accuracy in Media published several undercover videos of UNC System employees claiming to be evading the DEI ban.
The first video featured a now-former employee at UNC Charlotte, Assistant Director of Leadership and Community Engagement Janique Sanders. That video was followed by two more: one of UNC Asheville Dean of Students Megan Pugh and another of Karen Price, the director of assessments at Western Carolina University.
The U.S. Department of Education also issued warning letters to 60 higher education institutions about Title VI violations regarding antisemitic harassment and discrimination. UNC was among the schools named, and the warnings were aligned with a presidential executive order.
Duke was among 45 schools that were later issued a notice of an investigation over Title IV violations. In August, Duke University, Duke Law Journal and Duke University School of Medicine became subjects of investigations by two federal agencies over alleged racial discrimination violations of Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act.
Later in the year, Western Carolina received notification that the department’s Civil Rights Office had opened a Title IX investigation into the school “amid allegations that WCU has openly refused to comply with Title IX and to ensure sex-separated intimate spaces in federally funded institutions of higher education.” As of early December, the case was still ongoing.
