The University of Virginia again is following UNC’s lead in expanding its program to help low-income students get an education.
An additional $1.5 million will be added to AccessUVa, the university’s financial aid program, UVa. President John Casteen III announced Tuesday. The program, modeled after UNC’s Carolina Covenant, now boasts a total annual commitment of $17.9 million.
Both programs are designed to give students from poorer families a debt-free education and went into effect in fall 2004.
“They pretty much followed our lead,” said Shirley Ort, director of scholarships and student aid at UNC. “We initially set eligibility at 150 percent of the federal poverty level, and the chancellor recently increased the eligibility level to 200 percent.”
Casteen announced that AccessUVa also would increase its eligibility level from 150 percent of the poverty level to 200 percent. According to the AccessUVa Web site, the increase raises the maximum annual household income for eligible students from $28,274 for a family of four to $37,700.
AccessUVa will be open to all transfer students from the Virginia Community College System beginning in fall 2005. Other eligible students are those entering the university as the graduating class of 2008 or later. But the Carolina Covenant is not open to all N.C. community college transfers — only students who will graduate in 2008 or later.
“AccessUVa emphasizes a few different things than UNC’s program,” said Yvonne Hubbard, director of student financial services at UVa. “One big difference is that the Carolina Covenant has a required work-study program, and AccessUVa doesn’t.”
Virginia’s program also has a component to help students from middle-income families who have trouble affording college expenses.
“The university puts a cap on the amount a student can receive in loans — approximately 25 percent of four years of education,” Hubbard said. “After the student receives that much money from loans, we meet the need for the remaining amount.”
