AccessUVA was created in 2004, after the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill introduced the “Carolina Covenant,” the first financial aid program at a public school that promised to meet all student financial need. Though Access UVA is the new umbrella name for all of UVA’s financial aid programs, here’s what is new:
AccessUVA meets 100 percent of need for all admitted undergraduate students through a combination of grants and loans. UVA follows guidelines of the federal application for financial student aid (FAFSA), which establishes EFC, estimated family contribution. A student’s “need” is the difference between the school’s sticker price and EFC. (Sometimes there’s still a disparity between what the government says a family can pay and what they can actually afford.)
Second, AccessUVA replaces loans with grants for low-income students—those whose family income is equivalent to 200 percent of the federal poverty line or less, or about $38,000 for a family of four. This category of students will, in theory, graduate from college debt-free.
Third, it caps the amount of need-based loans for all students at approximately 25 percent of UVA’s in-state cost of attendance over four years, meeting all need above that amount with grants. All students, regardless of state residency, receive the in-state cap level. The aim is that no student will graduate with more than about $18,000 in debt.
All told, the program is one of the most generous financial aid packages in higher education; UVA frequently offers students a better deal than other schools.
As part of AccessUVA, administrators also want to make sure more low-income students end up on Grounds.
The admissions office has stepped up recruitment efforts in poorer areas. Blackburn and his staff travel to places like rural Southwest Virginia to get the word out that UVA is affordable and available to qualified kids. They’re also improving relations with guidance counselors in areas that don’t send many kids to schools like UVA.
A marketing campaign, run through the office of University Relations, produces materials to send to schools—especially popular are region-specific fliers with photos of local kids hanging out on the Lawn.
So far, AccessUVA has enrolled three classes of undergraduate students. There are currently 527 “Access kids” on all-grant packages at UVA. Very low-income students account for 5.5 percent of the student body.