The Carolina Covenant is a "Success Story," the U.S. Department of Education says. Watch the department's video in which Carolina students tell how they are succeeding through the Carolina Covenant.

UNC-Chapel Hill's Carolina Covenant enables eligible students from historically low-income families to attend the University and graduate debt-free if they:

 

 


Carolina continues to lead on the issues of college access. In September 2006, the University hosted The Politics of Inclusion," a conference seeking national solutions to the complex issues surrounding access and affordability in American higher education.

With the Carolina Covenant, the University also leads American public universities in a commitment to make college more accessible to all people. Chancellor James Moeser announced the innovative initiative in September 2003.

"A covenant is a promise," Moeser said. "College should be possible for everyone who can make the grade, regardless of family income. With the Carolina Covenant, we are telling students that college is affordable, no matter how much money your family makes."

Moeser credits two administrators for their vision in crafting the Carolina Covenant — Shirley Ort, associate provost and director of scholarships and student aid, and Jerry Lucido, former vice provost for enrollment management and director of undergraduate admissions.

Calling the Covenant "an expression of our values at this university," Moeser has said that Carolina's place in history as the nation's oldest public university accounts for why "this idea of access is deeply embedded in our genetic code, in our DNA."

• work on campus 10 to 12 hours weekly in a federal work-study job throughout their four years here, instead of borrowing.

• agree to have the University meet the rest of the student's financial need through a combination of federal, state, university, and private grants and scholarships.

In January 2008, Kiplinger's magazine ranked Carolina as the top value among public universities for the seventh consecutive time. Kiplinger’s reported that UNC-Chapel Hill “represents a divergent trend:  a commitment to meet the financial need of all qualified students and to fill that need with grants, not loans. Its program, called the Carolina Covenant, reaches out to bright high school students from low-income families.”

The total of students benefitting from the program has risen to 1,389 as the University extended the reach of the Carolina Covenant by expanding the program for families with an income level at 200 percent of the federal poverty level. This covers a family of four with an annual income of about $41,300 or a single parent with a child who makes about $27,380. Learn more.

The University considers all admitted and enrolled students, based on their completed financial aid applications (FAFSA and the PROFILE). No separate application is required. Learn more.