1795, February 2 - First Student Arrives
The admission requirements for incoming first year students was to “have passed a competent examination by the faculty” on Greek and Latin (Board of Trustees 4), though this type of classical education was not common in North Carolina at the time (Battle I:42). In fact, while examining arriving students to determine their placement, David Ker (1758-1805) found many of them unprepared for college work, leading to the creation of the Preparatory School in 1796 (Lindemann).
It is also important to note that, while no official documents record rules against admitting women and people of color, only white men were admitted. The fact that it was deemed unnecessary to specify these exclusions only highlights their prevalence by showing that the conception of who a student could be was so limited to white men that it was unimaginable that women or people of color would apply.
For those students admitted, tuition and fees were substantial. Depending on the subjects taken, tuition ranged from $8 to $15 a year (Battle 50), while the average yearly income in the US was $65, though income records are hard to calculate at the time (McMaster). Students also had to pay for their lodging or use of the Commons, which was administered by the campus steward who was responsible for supplying food and water as well as cleaning. The stewards typically owned many slaves, who, in reality, were the ones who performed the labor to maintain the Commons. John Taylor and Pleasant Henderson, the first two stewards of the University, were the largest enslavers in town in 1800, each owning nineteen slaves (Ballinger).
While technically a public institution rather than a religious one, the University was Christian in character. Students were required to attend daily morning and evening prayers and attend weekly church services at the Chapel, followed by “Evening examination on the general principles of religion & morality” on Sundays (Board of Trustees 11). Those who failed to attend these services were punished as “Absences were carefully noted and delinquents often offending were called up for reprimands and even subjected to deprivation of diplomas” (Battle I:559).
SOURCES
Ballinger, Susan, et al. “Slaves of Faculty and Townspeople.” Slavery and the Making of the University, UNC Libraries, exhibits.lib.unc.edu/exhibits/show/slavery/faculty_townspeople.
Battle, Kemp P. History of the University of North Carolina, vol. I: From Its Beginning to the Death of President Swain, 1789-1868. Raleigh: Edwards & Broughton Printing Co., 1907. 12, 69-71, 94-96. Rpt. in Documenting the American South. University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill,https://docsouth.unc.edu/nc/battle1/battle1.html.
Lindemann, Erika. “The Establishment of the University.” True and Candid Compositions: The Lives and Writings of Antebellum Students at the University of North Carolina. 2005. Documenting the American South. University Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, https://docsouth.unc.edu/true/chapter/chp01-01/chp01-01.html.
McMaster, John Bach. “A History of the People of the United States,” vol. 2, p. 617. Cited on https://libraryguides.missouri.edu/pricesandwages/1790-1799
University of North Carolina (1793-1962). Board of Trustees. “"Laws and Regulations for the University of North Carolina," August 2, 1795.” Pettigrew Family Papers (#592), transcribed by John Pettigrew, Southern Historical Collection, The Wilson Library, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. https://docsouth.unc.edu/true/mss01-02/mss01-02.html.