Almost two months after inaugurating its first class of 225 students, the Carolina Covenant is set to expand its requirements and to make the University even more accessible to the state's most impoverished students.
Chancellor James Moeser announced during his State of the University address Wednesday that the expanded program will allow in-state students from families earning at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty level to graduate without debt. In return, the students will work 10 to 12 hours each week at a federal work-study job on campus.
"These changes send an even stronger message about accessibility and the traditional commitment to opportunity in Chapel Hill for qualified students, regardless of their ability to pay," he said.
The change will benefit those who come from a family of four that earns less than $37,000 per year or a one-child, single-parent household making less than $24,000. The program previously had aided families at or below 150 percent of the poverty level, or earning $28,000 and $18,000, respectively.
The expansion will allow an additional 120 students to attend UNC, officials said.
Shirley Ort, director of scholarships and student aid, said the expansion is not so much an indication of the program's success but of administrators' faith in the future success of the program.
"We wouldn't be doing this today if we didn't have a track record through University policy that this is achievable," she said.
The Covenant has received almost $2.7 million in private donations, Moeser announced in his address.
But much of the funding for the expansion was provided through the N.C. General Assembly. The state's need-based grant program awarded $16 million in financial aid to the UNC-system, Ort said.
