Opinion: Linchpin of UNC's accessibility is in danger

Earlier this week, The New York Times ranked UNC third among all U.S. schools for the economic diversity of its student body. ? This distinction is due in no small part to the Carolina Covenant, a nearly unique program that seeks to provide Pell grant-eligible admits with funds and resources to make their college experience affordable and welcoming.

But if we’re proud of The New York Times’ recognition, we must take action to address imminent threats to the work that earned it.

UNC’s relative success is the result of its decades-long commitment to providing an education to all who gain admission. Since 2003, the Carolina Covenant has embodied that commitment. But the program relies on the type of funding capped this summer by the North Carolina General assembly.

It is critical that this funding be reinstated or compensated for. We must remain committed to sustaining and improving on these goals. Forward movement can only continue if proper funding remains available for enrolling students and maintaining programs meant to neutralize resultant social disadvantages.

In addition to enrolling low-income students, the Covenant has done well to improve their chances at success upon arrival.

Since the first Covenant graduating class enrolled a decade ago, four-year graduation rates for low-income students have jumped by 20 percent, and the number of Covenant scholars has tripled.

Shirley Ort, UNC’s director of scholarships and financial aid, said Covenant-eligible students tend to have attended underfunded high schools and are still at a disadvantage with respect to non-tuition and social capital.

A study by the Covenant found that factors, like family income and parent education, continued to be “significant predictors of retention and graduation, even after controlling for entering academic preparation.”

UNC’s overall four-year graduation rate is around 80 percent. For low-income students, as defined by the federal government and the New York Times’ rankings as those eligible for Pell grants, that number was 62 percent as of 2010.

The progress since then has been rapid. The class of 2013 graduated 77 percent of Covenant scholars who had enrolled four years earlier.

To be sure, this is not enough. Income, race and graduation rates remain predictably linked by historic and continued economic discrimination. More than half of Carolina Covenant scholars are students of color.

The four-year graduation rate for black males in the overall student body still stands at 60 percent. But even this is a marked improvement from the pre-Covenant level of 45 percent — one that demonstrates the efficacy of the Covenant’s strategy and the necessity of its continued funding.

Despite the magnitude of the task that remains, this University has been uncommonly proactive in providing students of all backgrounds the chance to attend. It has understood that the potential recognized in those students’ admission will be squandered if we cannot find ways to ensure their college experiences are as likely to succeed as their better-off counterparts.

Capping need-based aid ensures the discrimination the Covenant is meant to mitigate will remain, in part, unchecked.