In-state students currently applying to UNC will be considered for the first round of university-covered tuition program for the 2024-2025 academic year if their families make less than $80,000 a year.
Beginning in fall 2024, eligible students will benefit from the program Chancellor Kevin Guskiewicz announced in July in a campus-wide message responding to the Supreme Court's Affirmative Action decision. Entering first-year students will be eligible for up to eight semesters of undergraduate study.
“We want to make sure students know financial constraints should not stand in the way of their dreams,” Guskiewicz wrote.
In the message, Guskiewicz explained that the inspiration for the program came from existing scholarships at the University — Carolina Covenant and Blue Sky Scholars specifically. He said the tuition initiative is one of multiple opportunities expanding and continuing to serve the North Carolina community.
For students taking 12 or more credit hours, in-state undergraduate tuition per semester for the 2023-2024 school year was $3,509.50 with an added $989.06 of student fees.
The Associate Provost and Director of the Office of Scholarship and Student Aid, Jackie Copeland, said in an email statement the new policy will cover the out-of-pocket costs for tuition and mandatory fees, meaning that incoming students will still have to pay for additional costs, such as housing and food.
In the statement, Copeland also said she is proud of the program and the message that the tuition committment is sending to UNC families.
“This program was born out of the ideas of several people over a number of years because it is a natural extension of Carolina’s mission to provide an affordable, accessible, world-class education,” she said.
The money for this program comes from private donations of approximately $500,000-$600,000 per year. Because of the funding model, Copeland said in her statement that at this time, the new scholarship will only be available to North Carolina residents.
