UNC targets low-income bracket

As UNC works to maintain the diversity of its student body it is taking steps to recruit low-income students. Its efforts have put it in the middle of the pack compared with peer institutions.

One indicator of a school's socioeconomic diversity is the percentage of students who receive federal Pell Grants a form of need-based financial aid.

High percentages indicate that a large number of a school's students have significant financial need.

In the 2007-08 school year 14.5 percent of UNC students received Pell Grants" up from 13.5 percent in 2006-07.

""It's pretty constant"" said Shirley Ort, director of scholarships and student aid. I think we're doing very well.""

Steve Farmer" director of undergraduate admissions" said UNC's Pell Grant rate lies ""in the middle"" compared to other renowned public universities.

The University of Virginia's rate was 8 percent for 2006-07" while the University of California at Berkeley had 28 percent.

Less selective institutions generally have higher Pell Grant percentages than more selective ones because low-income students are often less prepared for college said Barmak Nassirian" associate executive director of external relations at the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.

""It shouldn't surprise anybody that children who come from more affluent families are more prepared for college" he said. Not because they're smarter" but because they've been better taken care of.""

Despite UNC's 35 percent admission rate"" Nassirian said the University makes a ""very serious effort"" to reach out to low-income students.

Herb Davis" associate director of undergraduate admissions said UNC has worked to increase socioeconomic diversity by recruiting through programs such as Camp Carolina and Project Uplift.

The two programs bring high school students to UNC to experience firsthand what it offers. Project Uplift specifically tries to draw minority and low-income students to the University.

The Carolina Advising Corps which places recent UNC graduates in underprivileged N.C. high schools as college advisers also aims to help low-income and under-represented students attend college.

The advisers focus on counseling upperclassmen on post-secondary opportunities said Interim Program Coordinator Jennie Cox Bell.

UNC also attracts low-income students with grant money scholarships and work-study through Carolina Covenant" which launched in 2004 to help students graduate debt-free.

""There are capable kids in every school in North Carolina"" Farmer said. Our job is to try to cast the net as widely as we can and to find these great students wherever accidents of birth have placed them.""



Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.