Scholarships at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

The Joseph Cooley High and Kathleen Cullins High Endowed Scholarship is an undergraduate award within the Light on the Hill Society program honoring named donors while supporting high-achieving UNC students. Recent scholar listings show High Undergraduate awards of four thousand dollars per year renewable for three additional years. Recipients demonstrate academic excellence, leadership, and community service and are chosen by the Light on the Hill Society Advisory Board through the program's application process. Carolina Alumni administers the scholarship alongside other Light on the Hill Society and Peppers family awards.

The Light on the Hill Society Scholarship, created in 2005 by Carolina Alumni, supports academically gifted Black students at UNC-Chapel Hill in honor of early Black graduates. Recipients receive three thousand dollars per year renewable for three additional years under current program guidelines published with recent scholar classes. The Light on the Hill Society Advisory Board selects scholars through an application process evaluating academic excellence, leadership, community service, and alumni engagement potential. The scholarship family also includes related named awards administered by Carolina Alumni for qualifying undergraduates.

Open to Canadian high school or CEGEP seniors on track to graduate in the spring who are competitive applicants to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and are nominated by a Morehead-Cain nominating school or affiliate program. Amount varies. Students who do not attend a nominating school may still be considered through the Admissions Referral Program if they apply to UNC Early Action. UNC admission is a separate process from the Morehead-Cain application. The Morehead-Cain scholarship application closes at 11:59 p.m. EST on October 1, 2026. UNC Early Action applications are due October 15, 2026.

The Thomas Wolfe Scholarship provides full four-year financial support to one incoming UNC student per year, covering tuition, room and board, books, a new laptop, and a summer stipend. Selection focuses on exceptional creative writing talent in poetry, fiction, plays, or creative nonfiction through a separate portfolio application distinct from general admission. Applicants must apply to UNC by the October 15 early admission deadline and submit a forty- to fifty-page writing sample plus a five-hundred-word Why I Write essay by November 15. The scholar must minor in Creative Writing and enter as a first-year student no older than twenty-two.

The UNC Department of Dramatic Art offers a four-year renewable scholarship covering tuition, fees, room, and board for students planning to major in dramatic art. Applicants audition for the scholarship while applying to Carolina; this process is separate from general admission, which does not review arts supplements. Students interested in the dramatic art major must complete the department's audition requirements during the application cycle. The award supports students committed to studying theatre at UNC with renewal tied to department and university scholarship standards. Contact the Department of Dramatic Art for current audition dates and materials.