NCSSM Admissions for Union County Students

Union County Students at NCSSM, 2025-26

Union County's public school district, Union County, had 3,680 tenth graders in 2025-26, 3.2% of the state's public-school tenth graders. Union County students made up 5.1% of NCSSM's 1,473 Residential and Online students. So Union sends more students to NCSSM than the size of its public high school classes alone would suggest.

NCSSM does not publish how many Union students applied or were admitted, so there is no official NCSSM acceptance rate for Union County. Any rate you see elsewhere is an estimate; these enrollment counts are the closest official figure.

Union County at NCSSM, Year by Year

Union County had 75 students at NCSSM in 2025-26, up from 34 in 2021-22. Counts include both grades, so each year overlaps the one before it. NCSSM-Morganton opened in 2022.

How Admission Works From Union County

NCSSM does not set aside seats by county. State law (G.S. 116-235) has it admit, as far as practicable, an equal number of qualified applicants from each congressional district, and NCSSM assigns a team of three readers to each district. So a Union applicant is compared first with applicants from the same district, not with the whole state. The exact wording of the law.

All of Union County is in congressional District 8. The district takes in 8 other counties in whole or in part. The closest to Union are Anson (1 student), Mecklenburg (178 students), Stanly (1 student) and Cabarrus (82 students), counting NCSSM students in 2025-26.

District lines are from the 2025 congressional plan (S.L. 2025-95, which redrew Districts 1 and 3; the rest are unchanged from S.L. 2023-145). NCSSM does not publish which map it uses in a given cycle or how many students it admits from each district.

Durham, Morganton or Online

One NCSSM application covers both residential campuses and NCSSM Online, and applicants rank the programs they would attend. NCSSM describes itself as a public, two-year residential high school for juniors and seniors, and both campuses are tuition-free.

NCSSM-Morganton

About 83 miles from the center of Union County, the closer campus. 901 Burkemont Avenue, Morganton, NC 28655. Its High School Open House is Saturday, November 7, 2026, and Welcome Day for admitted students is Saturday, April 24, 2027.

NCSSM-Durham

About 115 miles away. 1219 Broad Street, Durham, NC 27705. Opened in 1980.

NCSSM Online

A free two-year honors program that students take while staying at their own high school. 28 students from Union County took NCSSM Online in 2025-26, which is 37.3% of the county's NCSSM students (statewide it is 33.8%).

Distances are straight-line miles. Most of Union's residential students attend NCSSM-Morganton, the closer campus.

Dates for Union County Applicants

The application for the Class of 2029 opens on CFNC.org Thursday, October 15, 2026 at 4:00 p.m. ET and closes Tuesday, January 5, 2027 at 11:59 p.m. ET, the same in every county. The Open House at NCSSM-Morganton, the campus closer to Union, is Saturday, November 7, 2026; NCSSM opens registration a month ahead. Residential applicants take the Math Assessment at either campus on Saturday, February 13, 2027 or Saturday, February 20, 2027. Every other date, with calendar links, is on the NCSSM admissions countdown.

Counties Near Union

The six counties whose centers are closest to Union County's, with their NCSSM students in 2025-26. Mecklenburg has the most of the six, with 178 students. Union is in the Southwest region.

More NCSSM Admissions Pages

NCSSM students from every North Carolina county · Southwest region · Free NCSSM tools