UNC administrators looks to improve scholarship distribution

Administrators are trying to rework financial awards to attract top students to UNC in new ways.

The committee on scholarships, awards and student aid met Wednesday to discuss two new programs committee members hope will attract promising students and reach out to those with financial needs.

One program would attract “top-tier” students with preference-based enrichment awards, while another would increase available scholarship funding through matching donations.

Steve Farmer, a committee member and director of admissions, presented the results of a survey in which 1,008 students ranked six UNC programs in order of their interest in them. The survey, he said, was the first to be used to determine which enrichment awards students receive.

Conducted by the scholarship selection committee, the survey asked students to rank their interest in summer study abroad, First Year Fellows, Carolina Research Scholar Program and programs in the business and journalism schools.

The participants selected from the survey will be invited to join the programs they are placed in. The summer study abroad and summer research programs will both offer 40 $5,000 grants, while the other programs offer only early participation.

Farmer said the enrichment awards’ early opportunities and financial aid will draw more students to the University and can increase retention of accepted students.

Farmer said he hopes every participant will be offered one of their choices next week.

“We hope that the invitations to participate in these opportunities that we send next week will encourage these students to choose us over other universities,” he said.

Farmer also said that the aim of this pilot program is to reach as many students as possible.

He said the awards intrigued him because they cost the University only one-fourth of what traditional scholarships do.

“If someone is already receiving $10,000 of merit-based aid, we may choose to give the enrichment award to someone else that may not be receiving as much,” he said.

Matching funds

The committee also discussed a proposed plan to raise more scholarship funding by matching every $2 in private donations with $1 in institutional funds.

Elizabeth Dunn, senior associate vice chancellor for development, said the University would need a base of matching money to build confidence among donors.

“We would need a minimum of $500,000 annually to start the program, but could easily do well with $2 million annually and match almost all private donations to the fund,” Dunn said.

Shirley Ort, associate provost and director of the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid, said she was intrigued.

“It is a good thing to start to talk about this now to prepare for future years, because I don’t think college costs are going to go down,” said Ort, who is also the committee’s chairwoman.

Committee members only expressed one concern with the proposal — the source of funding for the initial matching money.

“There is not a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow that I have in mind,” Dunn said.

But Ort said that possible sources could include revenue from Student Stores, trademark income or other untried options.

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