You may still apply online beginning April 25, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. and complete a POST online application. Post lottery applications will be numbered in the order they are received and assigned waitlist numbers after the last waitlist number from the computer-generated lottery. Applications will be accepted up until the 20th day of school, August 26, 2022.

Welcome and thank you for your interest in becoming a part of the Union Academy (UA) community.

Union Academy is a K-12 tuition-free NC public charter school. UA enrollment is based on the lottery system. Students will be considered for enrollment without regard to race, religion, national origin, gender, or physical disability.

Applications for the 2022-23 Enrollment Lottery will be available on the UA website homepage beginning January 3, 2022, at 10:00 a.m. The online application process will close at 10:00 a.m. on March 31, 2022. Two information sessions will be held: January 24 and March 7. The lottery will be held April 7 at 5 p.m. Families will be notified that night about their application status.

We ask that you please read the following detailed information before completing a lottery application.

January 3: Lottery application opens at 10am

March 31: Lottery application closes at 10am

April 7: Lottery at 5pm

We will hold Information Sessions & Tours on

• Monday, January 24, 2022, 5:00 p.m.
• Monday, March 7, 2022, 5:00 p.m.

We also conduct tours of our school throughout the school week (Jan. 10-Mar. 25). Use the button below to schedule a tour.

Union Academy is a K-12 tuition-free NC public charter school. Admission is lottery based and is open to any school-aged student in North Carolina. Please see our Admissions page for more information about the lottery process.

To define what makes Union Academy an important place to so many is not an easy task. It may have been the special spirit of starting a new venture that so many experienced in the spring and summer of 2000. Or it may be the challenge of being a part of helping to make everything happen on a daily basis. Or it may be the spirit of collaboration and trust that has become ever so apparent as the school has developed.

One thing is for certain, UA is a special place because it is populated by special people. One of our UA Board members put it this way, “The spirit of Union Academy is embodied in people who are willing to do whatever needs to be done.” That spirit of collaboration and selflessness together with an extraordinary emphasis on academic challenge, community service, and the development of strong character certainly defines UA.

Information nights provide detailed information about Union Academy and our educational philosophy.

Applications for the 2022-23 Union Academy Enrollment Lottery will be available on the UA website homepage beginning

• January 3, 2022, at 10:00 a.m.

The online application process will close at

• March 31, 2022 at 10 a.m.

All applications must be completed online.

The order in which the application is submitted has no bearing on bettering chances for selection since the lottery is a random, computer-based drawing.

All students are required by NC Charter School law to complete an application for admission. Only one application per child will be accepted. Submitting duplicate applications to gain an advantage will result in disqualifying the student’s application.

Parents will receive confirmation within 24 hours that their child’s online application has been submitted successfully and entered into a computer database. If you do not receive a confirmation within 24 hours, please email lottery@uamail.unionacademy.org.

• If a family has more than one child applying for admission, separate applications must be completed for each child.

• All applicants to the lottery must be North Carolina residents at the time of the lottery with a physical North Carolina address. Children must turn 5 years old before August 31, 2022, to apply to Kindergarten.

The lottery drawing is generated by a computer program. The computer program will randomly select applications for admission at the lottery drawing on

• Thursday, April 7, 2022, at 5:00 p.m.

Parents may attend the live, public lottery on April 7, 2022, but attendance is not required. Attending the lottery does not improve or lessen the chances of admission.

Open seats will be offered to eligible student applicants following the lottery. Families will be notified by email regarding their acceptance or waitlist number within 24 hours of the lottery.

Parents may also log onto the account they created to check the results of the lottery and the wait list number per grade level following the lottery.

If there are no spaces available at the grade level for which the student is applying, the lottery will generate a wait-list number for each grade applied for.

Following the lottery, families will be notified by email regarding their acceptance or waitlist number. Parents may also log onto the account they created to check the results of the lottery and the wait list number per grade level following the completion of the lottery.

Students accepted into the lottery will be given a maximum of five business days to make a decision on the offer. Accepted students must submit all online enrollment forms and registration paperwork by midnight on the 5th day.

If the offer is denied or not claimed by submitting the completed online forms within the five-day period, the seat will be offered to the first student on the waitlist.

Kindergarten students will complete all online enrollment forms and attend a Kindergarten Screening. More information will be emailed to you if accepted.

If one child in a family receives an admissions offer, other siblings are not automatically included in the offer. Other family siblings will only receive an offer if their wait list

number moves up to an offer for the grade they are applying. If no offer is made, they

will be considered “siblings” for the next year (after one child in the family is attending)

and must apply to the sibling lottery for the following academic year.

Please note: Any student who has not completed all courses by the first day of the

Union Academy school year (August 1, 2022) for the grade level he/she was accepted into, will not be allowed to enroll for the 2022-23 year.

Enrollment: Once enrolled, students remain enrolled until a parent withdraws a

student by contacting the UA main office. When a student withdraws, space becomes available in that grade and a call or email is placed to the next person on the waitlist.

The calls/emails continue until the position is filled or the 20th day of school passes

Multiple Birth Siblings: Siblings with shared birth dates (twins, triplets, etc.) will be pulled in sequential order for all priority levels of the lottery. For example, when twins apply, our computer script identifies the twins prior to the lottery. If one is pulled as wait list number 43, the other twin will be automatically numbered wait list number 44. Then the random ordering of the names will continue. The same applies to acceptance. If one twin is pulled for acceptance, the other is automatically accepted, also.

Union Academy may give enrollment priority in certain instances pursuant to North Carolina law, specifically G.S.115C-218.45.

The Union Academy Board of Directors, per Board Policy 100.4, will offer admissions priority for the school year as follows:

1. Children of school full-time employees (minimum of 30 hours a week (The law limits the amount of staff and/or board children to no more than 15 percent of the school’s total enrollment.)

2. Siblings of currently enrolled students who were admitted to Union Academy in a previous year. For the purposes of this subsection, the term "siblings" includes any of the following who reside in the same household: half-siblings, step-siblings, and children residing in a family foster home.

3. Children of the Board of Directors (The law limits the amount of staff and/or board children to no more than 15 percent of the school’s total enrollment.)

4. Opportunity Preference - Exceptions may be made at the Headmaster's discretion. If a former student was enrolled in our charter school within the last two academic years but left due to an academic study abroad program, competitive admission residential program, or vocational opportunities of the parents, the charter school may grant enrollment preference. Enrollment depends upon availability and must be before the 20th day of school.

5. Legacy Preference - Siblings of students that have graduated from Union Academy and were enrolled at least four years at the school can receive preference.

6. Applicants of the general public.

Please note: Foreign Exchange students cannot enroll in charter schools. The law states, "Any child who qualifies under the laws of this State for admission to a public school is qualified for admission to a charter school." The NC School Attendance and Student Accounting manual states, "Foreign Exchange students coming to NC and are not domiciles of NC must be enrolled as Visiting Students." Therefore, Foreign Exchange students cannot enroll in charter schools because they are not domiciled in NC.

Parents who miss the online application window (January 3 through March 31), may still apply online after the lottery on April 25 and complete a post online application.

Applications will be numbered in the order they are received and assigned wait list numbers after the last wait list number from the computer-generated lottery.

Please read our FAQ’s for any questions you might have about the Lottery.

Please visit the Lottery Timeline for all important dates.

If you have any additional lottery or admissions questions, please send an email to lottery@uamail.unionacademy.org or call Amanda Housand at 704-238-8883, extension 1399.

You may still apply online and complete a post online application. Post lottery applications will be numbered in the order they are received and assigned waitlist numbers after the last waitlist number from the computer-generated lottery. Applications will be accepted up until the 20th day of school, August 26, 2022.

You must create an account on the lottery portal to proceed to the New Student Application.

Note: If you created an account last year, you may use the same

Union Academy students and staff discuss their experiences teaching and learning at UA.