A UNC financial aid initiative will soon honor 20 years of providing students with financial and career support with a year-round series of events. The anniversary celebration is set to kick off this month as classes begin. Since 2004, UNC’s Carolina Covenant program has helped give qualifying students from low-income backgrounds the opportunity to graduate debt-free, while also providing a professional network of support in and after college. Program director Candice Powell said it was a groundbreaking initiative at the time and that few universities had a program like it. The idea began with the director for the Office of Scholarships and Student Aid Shirley Ort, former Chancellor James Moeser, and other senior administrators who noticed that Carolina students from low-income backgrounds were among the least likely to graduate, explained Carolina Covenant director Candice Powell. “Yet they’re so talented, right? We need these students here,” Powell said. “There’s gotta be somethin...