NC Voices: Lessons from Carolina's Covenant
Friday, February 02 2007
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As college tuition rises, some schools and states are increasing money they put into merit based scholarships faster than they are increasing need-based aid. It's one way schools, public and private, try to attract the best students and boost rankings. But the story in North Carolina is bit different. The legislature doesn't provide money for merit scholarships. While there was no state funding for need based grants ten years ago, North Carolina has made a major effort recently. State Government now spends $81 million a year on need based aid. That's up 143% increase since 1999. This increase made it possible for the state's flagship campus at Chapel Hill start a unique program for the lowest income students. Jessica Jones reports for our series "North Carolina Voices: Considering College."
Other information mentioned in this report:
- For a data and discussion about need-based and merit-based financial aid and a practice called "enrollment management" used by colleges and universities to seek targeted student populations, see this report
- Need-based aid still makes up, by far, the largest share of state spending on aid. But the proportion of state grants not based on financial need increased from 9 percent in 1983-84 to 10 percent in 1993-94 and 26 percent in 2003-04. (Need-based state grant aid grew by 53 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars between 1993-94 and 2003-04). See p. 19 of this report
- Information about the Carolina Covenant
- Data on percent of low income students at UNC-Chapel Hill
- Data on income and BA attainment by the age of 24. See information here
- For information on average retention rates at 4 year schools across the country, go here. For information on retention rates at Carolina, go here
- Information about characteristics of Carolina Covenant students, including percentage who are first generation, as well as average SAT scores and high school GPA
