North Carolina Expanded Scholarship Program in 2024
State lawmakers removed income and attendance requirements, leading to a significant increase in student recipients.
Updated on Sept. 30, 2026 in Scholarships
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In 2024, the North Carolina legislature expanded the Opportunity Scholarship Program by eliminating previous income and public school attendance requirements. This policy shift resulted in more than 106,000 students receiving state funding for private school tuition during the most recent school year.
Why it matters
The program expansion aimed to provide families with a broader range of educational alternatives to traditional public schools. This initiative represents a major shift in how the state allocates taxpayer funding to private educational institutions.
The program distributed more than $589 million in funding for the 2025-2026 school year, with individual awards ranging from $3,000 to $7,000. Nearly 68,000 new applicants received scholarships following the removal of eligibility barriers.
The players
North Carolina State Education Assistance Authority
This state agency is responsible for administering the scholarship program and is currently undergoing a state audit.
North Raleigh Christian Academy
This private educational institution received more than $6.2 million in scholarship funding this year.
The details
The program distributes funds directly to private schools to cover tuition and fees, with significant capital flowing into local areas like Wake County, which received over $70 million. Specific institutions saw large funding totals, including more than $6.2 million for North Raleigh Christian Academy and over $3.9 million for both Cardinal Gibbons High School and Wake Christian Academy.
Timeline
In 2024, the legislature expanded Opportunity Scholarship Program eligibility.
During the 2025-2026 school year, the program distributed more than $589 million in funding.
Culture Shift
This expansion reflects a broader trend of states increasing public subsidies for private education options, moving away from traditional universal public funding models. It positions North Carolina at the forefront of the national debate regarding school choice and taxpayer-funded tuition assistance.
Families across the state can now access private school funding regardless of prior income or public school enrollment status. This shift fundamentally alters the financial feasibility of private education for thousands of households that were previously ineligible for support.
The takeaway
The expansion of this program signals a permanent change in the state's educational landscape regarding private school accessibility. Residents should monitor the progress of the current state audit to see if future administrative changes impact existing scholarship availability.
Further reading
For more background on state-funded aid, explore Scholarships.
Source note: This article includes information reported by ABC11 Raleigh-Durham.
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