Carolina Firsts
Carolina Firsts began in 2008 with support from the Office of Undergraduate Retention and New Student & Family Programs to create a sense of community for first-generation college students at UNC-Chapel Hill.
Carolina firsts Supporting our first-generation students
Opening doors
Through our Carolina Firsts program, these students are paired with faculty and staff advocates who were also first-generation students and connected with academic and social support programs to help them throughout their college experience.
Come find your place at Carolina.
- Nearly 4,000undergraduate students are Carolina Firsts
- 798students in the current first-year class are the first in their family to go to college
- Nearly 20%of all undergraduates are first-generation college students
- 992Carolina Firsts in the graduating class of 2019
Carolina is a “First Forward Advisory Institution” and is committed to supporting first-generation students.
The First Forward designation from the Center for First-generation Student Success recognizes higher education institutions that are improving the experiences and advancing the outcomes of first-generation college students.
Carolina was among only nine institutions named “advisory institutions” last year and is tapped to serve in a leadership capacity for First Forward because of the University’s long-standing commitment to all first-generation students at UNC-Chapel Hill and an ability to serve as a mentor to other selected institutions.
It’s important for this school of all schools to remember that not everyone starts where she finishes and that the doors of opportunity are best when they swing open widely. And we live out that promise every day by welcoming students no matter where they come from and helping students go further than anyone around them has had the chance to go.
Stephen Farmer, vice provost for enrollment and undergraduate admissions
Ever since I was a kid, my parents would always tell me that they wanted something better for me and that I needed a better future than they had,” she said. “Chapel Hill was always my priority. It was always my goal.
Zulma Arroyo, a Carolina First
Click on a photo below to meet one of Carolina's first-generation students
Access and support
Grad Student F1RSTS
F1RSTS provides resources and community for first-generation graduate students.
Carolina Student Transfer Excellence Program
C-STEP is a groundbreaking program that provides a pathway for high school and community college students to transfer into Carolina.
Lookout Scholars
The Lookout Scholars Program offers incoming first-generation students a rich cohort experience designed to help them become citizen leaders during their four years at Carolina.