Dorms open this weekend on the UNC-Chapel Hill campus. This year’s enrollment breaks the university record for in-state students.

UNC’s Director of Admissions Steve Farmer says the class enrolling this month at North Carolina includes 3,127 state residents. 640 of those earned 1400 or higher on the SAT.

Not only that, but the latest figures from U.S. News and World Report rank UNC as the fifth-best public university in the country. It’s the ninth consecutive year that UNC has been ranked fifth.

Among public and private national colleges, UNC tied for 28th, tied with Tufts University and Wake Forest. Last year, Carolina ranked 30th. The rankings - dominated by private universities - are based in part on a formula using opinion survey responses about academic quality from peer campus presidents, provosts or admissions officials.

One initiative that’s set Carolina apart from other schools is the Carolina Covenant program, which provides a debt-free education to qualified low-income students from North Carolina. This year, the university will enroll 519 new Carolina Covenant students, which Farmer says is proof that the program is working.

The latest issue of U.S. News and World Report is on newsstands today.