Applications for admission to UNC are up again.

UNC is announcing a record for first-year applications, marking ten years in a row that a new record has been set. Overall applications are up two percent over last year and 37 percent over five years ago: applications from low-income households are also up two percent.

Some had thought the low-income number may go down after the UNC Board of Governors unanimously approved a budget item in August that capped need-based financial aid at 15 percent. UNC is currently above that threshold and, therefore, must freeze the amount they are putting toward financial aid.

Chancellor Carol Folt says the administration will do everything possible to continue meeting student’s full needs.

“We have different ways that we cover that,” she says. “I think one of our greatest assets is that we have been able to keep costs low. The average debt of students at Carolina hasn’t changed in more than 15 years.”

Chancellor Folt adds the Carolina Covenant is a big part of meeting that need.

“We are aggressively growing that. We are celebrating 10 years [of the Carolina Covenant formation],” she says. “We’re putting in what, I believe, is necessary to make sure that we meet the need.”

According to UNC, Covenant Scholars comprised 13 percent of the enrolling classes for the past two years.

The chancellor says it is important to continue offering a top-quality education at a great value and remain accessible.

“I think our best value in the country comes from that commitment to continue bringing in students that are capable [and] able,” she says. “And make the financial barrier not the one that would keep them away.”

As of January 20, nearly 32,000 applications for enrollment were submitted to UNC from 99 counties in North Carolina, all 50 states – plus the District of Columbia – and 113 countries outside the US.

Students who applied in October will receive their decisions by the end of January. Students who applied in January will receive their decisions by the end of March.

Officials say the university expects to enroll a first-year class of 4,000.

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