Program enables low-income students to graduate debt-free

By Gregory Childress

gchildress@heraldsun.com; 918-1046

CHAPEL HILL -- UNC added 516 more Carolina Covenant Scholars this fall.

Officials reported last week that 427 freshman and 89 transfer students joined the program that enables low-income students to graduate from the university debt-free.

Financial aid officials also reported a 22 percent increase in the number of freshmen qualifying for needs-based financial aid, a surprising statistic they cannot attribute entirely to the financial crisis.

"We think it's more than that," said Shirley Ort, director of the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid. "If it was only the economy we would have seen it in the upper classes."

Ort said there was only a 12 percent increase in upper classmen qualifying for needs-based financial aid.

Officials said the increase in the number of low-income students on campus reflects the changing demographics of the state, a concerted effort by the Admissions Office to recruit low-income students, the university's need-blind admission policy and the Carolina Covenant.

"We think we may be becoming better known for the Carolina Covenant and we may be attracting more high-ability, but low-income students," Ort said.

Before the Carolina Covenant program began in the fall of 2004, roughly 4 percent of the university's entering freshmen were classified as low-income, meaning their families' income was 200 percent of the federal poverty level.

This fall, that number has nearly tripled to 11 percent.

A recent study of the first class of Carolina Covenant recipients found that the program helped the scholars succeed in school. The scholars remained in school longer and graduated at higher rates than a comparable group of low-income students entering UNC before the scholarship became available.

Nearly 1,800 students have enrolled at UNC as Carolina Covenant Scholars since the program's inception. Eligible students are selected in part based on family income status.

The students receive a package of grants, scholarships and work study opportunities.