Bank Boosts Scholarships For Military Families

The Red, White and Carolina Blue Challenge enables UNC to support academic excellence and create opportunity through scholarships for students who earn their place at Carolina, regardless of their ability to pay. (UNC/Jon Gardiner ’98)

Bank of America has given $250,000 to UNC to create a scholarship endowment fund for military families. The fund will provide scholarship support for military families through the University’s Red, White and Carolina Blue Challenge.

North Carolina is home to the nation’s fourth-largest contingent of active duty service men and women. The Red, White and Carolina Blue Challenge enables UNC to support academic excellence and create opportunity through scholarships for students who earn their place at Carolina, regardless of their ability to pay.

In fall 2019, Carolina enrolled 398 undergraduate first-year and transfer students affiliated with the military, the large majority of whom were military dependents. More than half qualified for and received financial aid.

Other contributions to the Red, White and Carolina Blue Challenge include a $2 million donation in 2019 from the UNC General Alumni Association to establish an endowed scholarship fund to help qualified military-affiliated students graduate from Carolina debt-free. Under it, military-affiliated students eligible for the Carolina Covenant scholarship program also will be eligible for the Lt. Col. Bernard W. Dibbert Carolina Covenant for Military Families Endowed Scholarship Fund, with priority given to North Carolinians. The gift was made by the GAA’s Board of Directors to honor the Army officer and his son Doug, president of the GAA.

The Red, White and Carolina Blue Challenge was set by Debbie ’78 and Steve Vetter ’78, who in 2017 challenged the Carolina community to match their $20 million donation to ultimately contribute $40 million toward more scholarship opportunities for students from military families by the time the University’s fundraising campaign, For All Kind: the Campaign for Carolina, ends on Dec. 31, 2022.