Your General Alumni Association serves Carolina and our students – past, present and future. The following scholarships are supported by the GAA and our members. Learn more about the GAA’s scholarships and current scholars.
Unless otherwise noted, applications are not required and recipients are selected by the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid.
In 2001, the General Alumni Association established a $500,000 scholarship endowment that provides Carolina additional resources to help attract the best and brightest students. In 2007, the GAA Board of Directors added $50,000 to the GAA Scholars program in honor of GAA President Douglas S. Dibbert’s 25 years of service to the Association. Learn more.
In 2019, the UNC General Alumni Association donated $2 million to support scholarships for military families in honor of Army Lt. Col. Bernard W. Dibbert who was killed in action on June 1, 1965, and his son, GAA President Douglas S. Dibbert. Vaughn Bryson ’60, who served on the GAA Board of Directors and as the board’s chair, and his wife, Nancy Faison Bryson ’60, donated an additional $1 million in 2021.
The Lt. Col. Bernard W. Dibbert Carolina Covenant for Military Families Endowed Scholarship Fund will aid military-affiliated students eligible for the Carolina Covenant, which provides UNC students from low-income families the opportunity to graduate without loan debt. The gift also was made as part of UNC’s For All Kind: the Campaign for Carolina and its Red, White and Carolina Blue Challenge to support families of military veterans.
GAA-sponsored Carolina Clubs are encouraged to support Carolina students from their area through local club scholarships. Funds are raised by Carolina alumni and friends. Learn more.
J. Maryon “Spike” Saunders ’25 led the General Alumni Association for 43 years and without fanfare built its membership from 700 to more than 15,000. Upon Spike’s death in 1995, the GAA solicited funds to establish the J. Maryon “Spike” Saunders Scholarship.
In 2005, during the 25th anniversary celebration of the GAA-supported Black Alumni Reunion (BAR), the BAR committee created the Light on the Hill Society (LOTH) Scholarship. This scholarship serves as a tribute to Carolina’s early African-American graduates of the 1950s and as a vehicle to support the academic pursuits of Carolina’s African-American undergraduates. Scholars are selected by the Light on the Hill Society scholarship selection committee through an application process. Learn more.