Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program (C-STEP)
In 2006, with the help of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill launched the Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program, or C-STEP, to enable more community-college students to transfer to and graduate from Carolina. Since the program began, C-STEP has served or is serving more than 350 students. Talented low- and moderate-income high school students are guaranteed eventual admission to Carolina if they enroll at one of nine North Carolina community colleges and complete the program successfully:
- Alamance Community College
- Cape Fear Community College
- Carteret Community College
- Central Carolina Community College
- Craven Community College
- Durham Technical Community College
- Fayetteville Technical Community College
- Sandhills Community College
- Wake Technical Community College
Students who are invited to participate in C-STEP agree to earn appropriate associate degrees and participate actively in the program. C-STEP offers students special events and advising, both at their home college and at Carolina, while they are pursuing their associate degrees, and provides exemplary transition and support services once they have enrolled at Carolina and are pursuing their bachelor degrees. These enhanced efforts will ensure that C-STEP students will feel firmly planted at Carolina almost immediately upon matriculation. They will be academically prepared and fully engaged in the campus community - both of which are strong indicators of student success.
Another important consideration for any student considering transferring to a four-year university is how to pay for their education. Carolina guarantees to meet 100 percent of every admitted student's demonstrated need through grants, scholarships, and loans. Qualified C-STEP students will be offered the opportunity to enroll as Carolina Covenant scholars, a landmark program that enables low-socioeconomic students to graduate debt-free.
C-STEP currently serves nearly 400 students; more than 200 of those have already enrolled at Carolina. The remaining students are expected to enroll after they have completed their community-college courses.
While the C-STEP partnership is currently limited to the community colleges listed above, it is our goal to serve as a model and eventually expand this program across the state.
For more information, contact:
Rebecca Egbert, Senior Assistant Director of Admissions and C-STEP Program Director
Office of Undergraduate Admissions
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Campus Box 2200, Jackson Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-2200
Phone: (919) 966-3984; Fax: (919) 962-3045
regbert@admissions.unc.edu
Brian Woodard, C-STEP Representative
Office of Undergraduate Admissions
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Campus Box 2200, Jackson Hall, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-2200
Phone: (919) 962-6268; Fax: (919) 962-3045
bfwoodard@admissions.unc.edu
"The best part about C-STEP is the peer mentor program—you have a group
of wonderful people to assist you any way they can, whether you need help getting acquainted with campus or just want to talk to someone."
Originally from Almaty, Kazakhstan, Natalya Grauer graduated in 2009 and is currently pursuing a master's degree in accounting at Kenan-Flager School of Business.
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