Carolina Covenant
Overview
The Carolina Covenant is UNC-Chapel Hill’s groundbreaking program for low-income students. Launched in 2004, the Covenant offers a debt-free path to graduation through a combination of grants, scholarships and a work-study job. Covenant Scholars also have access to mentoring, academic and personal support services. The program has dramatically improved on-time graduation among the University’s lowest-income students, transforming individual lives and building a stronger Carolina.
Students who qualify for the Carolina Covenant program are first admitted to the University solely on the basis of their academic qualifications. Only after they are admitted to the University is their financial need assessed and their status as a Covenant Scholar determined. Their family income must be less than 200 percent of federal poverty guidelines (indexed by family size).
The Need
It’s no secret that a college education holds the key to a better future. According to the CollegeBoard, the typical bachelor’s degree recipient can expect to earn about 65 percent more during a 40-year working life than the typical high school graduate earns over the same period.
It’s also no secret that the ever-rising price tag for a college education threatens to overwhelm the resources of many low-income families, making that key to a better future more difficult to grasp. This is true even for public U.S. universities. The CollegeBoard reports that, for published accounts, tuition and fees at these schools has climbed by an average of 3.4 percent each year over the past decade, adjusted for inflation.
The message is clear: Bright, hardworking young people from impoverished backgrounds need more and more financial help to fulfill their dream of going to college, and there are more and more of them.
Gift Opportunities
Create a Named Carolina Covenant Fund
An expendable gift can be used immediately to help cover a need in the near term; an endowment gift supports students forever because your gift is invested, generating perpetual income.
Gift Amounts
Expendable: $50,000, payable over five years, establishes a named expendable fund used to assist with college expenses and programming costs when funding permits
Endowment: $100,000, payable over five years, establishes a named endowment fund used to assist with college expenses and programming costs when funding permits
Contribute to the Carolina Covenant Scholarships General Fund
Gift Amounts
Gifts of any size may be made online to the fund and, because your donation will be expendable, we can use it immediately. That means your generosity will join others’ to add up to make a significant difference right now for deserving and outstanding students who want to attend Carolina—and whom we want on our campus.
Make Your Gift
Please contact the Office of Development for Scholarships and Student Aid at SupportScholarships@unc.edu or 919-445-0933 to discuss creating a named Carolina Covenant Fund.
You may make an online gift to the Carolina Covenant Scholarships General Fund.
Questions?
Please contact the Office of Development for Scholarships and Student Aid at SupportScholarships@unc.edu or 919-445-0933.