CHAPEL HILL (May 28, 2026) – UNC-Chapel Hill hasn’t kept up with North Carolina’s growth. But it intends to now, with a plan to add 5,000 students over 10 years.

Incredibly, at a time when many universities across the country see declining enrollment due to reduced birth rates, the UNC System sees increasing enrollment. North Carolina is projected to be the nation’s 7th-largest state by 2030.

That’s why it’s critically important for the General Assembly, which hasn’t adopted a new budget since 2023, to provide funds for enrollment growth at all our public universities.

“We were founded to serve the state of North Carolina, and we have to continue to reflect the state as it changes and grows,” UNC Chancellor Lee Roberts says in the accompanying video.

“We used to enroll about 5% of North Carolina’s graduating high school seniors. Now we’re at 3.5%, and it drops every year as the state continues to grow and we stay relatively flat (in enrollment).”

So Carolina is admitting an additional 500 students a year, Roberts says – an additional 2,000 students over just the next four years.

Roberts outlines plans for new dorms – including a $300 million housing plan – as well as dining, parking, classroom and lab space.

He includes a new 730-bed dorm where UNC’s Admissions Office stands now, as well as 2,200 student beds in the first phase of development at Carolina North.

EXPANDED ENROLLMENT is intertwined with development of Carolina North – 800 acres that were accumulated by philosophy professor Horace Williams and left to the University.

The University is seeing a surge in demand for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) courses, Roberts says in a second video – half its students now major in STEM fields. It has 3,300 biology majors.

“You can teach English in the same classroom for 100 years – and we do,” he says with a slight grin.

“But you can’t do that with biology or chemistry or exercise and sports science or computer science. You need modern facilities.”

HE NOTES that a lack of affordable housing is the biggest issue in the town of Chapel Hill.

“And that’s our problem as much as it is the town’s problem,” he says. “Most households in Chapel Hill have some connection to the university, one way or the other. And if our people can’t afford to live here, then we’re less attractive as an employer.”

Many universities face similar challenges, Roberts says – many are landlocked.

By contrast, “We have this incredible resource, this wonderful opportunity, where we have 800 acres of land a mile-and-a-half from where we’re sitting now – 250 acres are already cleared and graded.

“And I believe we have not only the opportunity, but I would argue the obligation, to use this land, which after all is owned by the people of North Carolina, to try to address these strategic challenges.”