Johnson & Wales University-Charlotte

Charlotte, NC · Private · 1,184 undergrads · website ↗

42% Black undergrads
Test-optional
No application fee

This is a regional campus of a university, not a standalone community college. Students here often “transfer” to the main campus, which inflates the rate below relative to a true community college.

Does anyone get out?

The point of starting here is finishing somewhere else. This is how often that happens.

21%

of students transfer to a four-year institution

Completed after transferring: 0.8%
Still enrolled after transferring: 5.2%

What it costs

Household income	Avg net price / year
Under $30,000	$23,414
$30,000 – $48,000	$24,568
$48,000 – $75,000	$25,109
$75,000 – $110,000	$30,117
Over $110,000	$33,680
All incomes (average)	$27,426

Sticker tuition and fees: $42,419 in-state — before aid, from the same earlier College Scorecard release as the net prices above.

These are averages. For an estimate for your family, use Johnson & Wales University-Charlotte's own net price calculator — every college that takes federal student aid must publish one.

Net price calculator ↗

Other costs of attendance, 2025–26

The college's own estimate for a full-time undergraduate for the year, before aid, from the October 2026 College Scorecard. It is a newer year than the tuition and net prices above, so don't add the two together.

Housing and meals, on campus	$15,064
Housing and meals, off campus (not with family)	$12,700
Books and supplies	$1,200
Other expenses, on campus	$1,958
Other expenses, off campus	$1,958

Outcomes

Completion rate: 49%
Students with Pell grants: 52%
Earnings @ 10yr: $43,418
Median debt: $26,000

Admission and teaching

SAT/ACT policy: Test-optional
Application fee: None
Students per faculty member: 14 to 1
Faculty who are full-time: 100%
Open admission: No

Middle 50% of test scores, fall 2024

25th to 75th percentile of enrolled first-year students who submitted scores. A quarter scored below the first figure and a quarter above the second. Section ranges can't be added together into a total-score range.

SAT Reading and Writing: 450–570
SAT Math: 430–560
ACT composite: 16–23

What students study

Business13%

Kinesiology & Sports Science4%

Communications & Media2%

Health & Nursing2%

Psychology1%

Earnings and debt by field of study

Median annual earnings of graduates who received federal student aid and were working, not studying: one year after completing (graduates of 2020–21 and 2021–22) and four years after (2017–18 and 2018–19), measured in 2022 and 2023 and shown in 2024 dollars. Median debt is federal Direct and Grad PLUS loans borrowed at this college by 2022–23 and 2023–24 graduates; it leaves out Parent PLUS and private loans. “National” is the median for the same field and credential across all US colleges.

Associate degrees (1)

Field of study	Degrees awarded 2023–24	Earnings, 1 yr after	Earnings, 4 yrs after	Median federal debt
Culinary Arts and Related Services	157	$36,999	$42,395national $39,605	$14,000

Bachelor's degrees (13)

Field of study	Degrees awarded 2023–24	Earnings, 1 yr after	Earnings, 4 yrs after	Median federal debt
Foods, Nutrition, and Related Services	50	$42,057	$50,571national $54,945	$27,000
Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations	27	$39,293	$47,042national $61,027	$27,000
Business Administration, Management and Operations	13	$47,732	$59,186national $68,257	$27,000
Culinary Arts and Related Services	9	$45,406	$55,056national $47,668	$27,000
Psychology, General	9	$40,287	—national $50,706	$27,000
Parks, Recreation, and Leisure Facilities Management	7	$44,141	$56,241national $50,468	$27,000
Accounting and Related Services	5	$56,753	$73,476national $76,194	$28,000
Hospitality Administration/Management	5	$48,497	$55,790national $56,726	$27,000
Specialized Sales, Merchandising and Marketing Operations	5	$40,011	$53,539national $59,631	$28,000
Marketing	2	$47,057	$64,321national $69,303	$27,000
Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General	1	$42,268	—national $61,296	$27,000
Communication and Media Studies	0	$36,547	$51,247national $56,359	$27,000
Public Health	0	—	—national $58,808	$31,000

A dash means the Department of Education suppressed the figure because too few graduates were measured — not zero. 3 more programmes at this college have every figure suppressed and are not listed. These figures are calculated for all 3 campuses that share this college's federal student-aid ID, so a branch campus shows its institution's figures.

Best transfer rates elsewhere in NC

Cabarrus College of Health SciencesConcord0%

Contact and accreditation

Address: Academic Center, 801 West Trade Street, Charlotte, NC 28202
Phone: (866) 598-2427
Institutional accreditor: New England Commission on Higher Education

Where would you transfer to?

Find four-year colleges ranked by what they'd cost your family and what graduates earn — then check which of your credits they accept before you commit.

Find four-year matches →

Source: U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard. College Scorecard, October 2026 release: net price calculator link, mission flags and religious affiliation (2025–26), enrolment shares, test policy, SAT/ACT ranges and student-to-faculty ratio (fall 2024), cost-of-attendance components (2025–26), and earnings and debt by field of study. IPEDS Institutional Characteristics 2023–24 for the application fee and the IPEDS 2024 directory for the phone number. All are U.S. Department of Education data in the public domain. Transfer rate is the share of entrants transferring to a four-year institution; it is published for roughly a third of community colleges, and a blank means unpublished rather than zero. Which specific credits transfer is set by agreements between individual institutions and is not published nationally — confirm with both colleges before enrolling.

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