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Alumni group to fund scholarships

Often an offer of scholarship aid will tip a student's college decision toward Carolina. A recent $500,000 gift from the General Alumni Association to the University's upcoming capital fund-raising campaign will create an endowment intended to do just that.

The gift creates a scholarship endowment known as "General Alumni Association Scholars." It will be invested and the earnings made available to entering Carolina students in merit- and need-based scholarships.

"One of the things that became apparent to us was this need at the margins," said William P. Aycock II, a 1965 graduate and chair of the GAA board's scholarship task force, "that there are a number of students who could be persuaded to come to Chapel Hill with modest scholarship aid. It struck me that with a limited amount of resources we could have a large effect."

The Office of Scholarships and Student Aid will apply its standards in administering the GAA Scholars program. The scholarships office will work with the Office of Undergraduate Admissions with the intent of attracting to the University students who otherwise might choose not to attend because the University was unable to award them sufficient scholarship aid. The scholarships office will determine amounts awarded to individuals.

Shirley Ort, the director of the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid said scholarships in the $500 range can make the difference, particularly to out-of-state prospects for whom costs are higher. When Carolina can't match offers from other schools, Ort said, "to the parents it looks like we're not recognizing [a student's] talents."

Preference will be given to entering first-year students who are children of University alumni.

"Carolina alumni have stepped forward from the very beginning, raising money in the 19th century for a memorial to Joseph Caldwell, UNC's first president, which still stands in McCorkle Place," GAA President and 1970 graduate Douglas S. Dibbert said. "Through the support of 14,000 alumni, faculty and staff donors, the GAA gave to the University a splendid first-ever alumni home during the Bicentennial campaign. Now, we're fortunate enough to be in a position to make a gift that will open up opportunities for future alumni."

The gift was presented to Chancellor James Moeser, outgoing Student Body President Brad Matthews and Ort by GAA board chair Richard Y. Stevens, a 1970 graduate, Aycock and Dibbert.

The General Alumni Association is a self-governed, nonprofit organization serving alumni and friends of the University.

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