Will Zahran, a UNC School of Education doctoral student, was one of 12 graduate students from across disciplines on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus recognized as a 2024 Impact Award winner during an April 4 ceremony hosted by The Graduate School.
The annual Impact Awards recognize graduate students and recent graduate alumni whose research contributes to the educational, economic, physical, social, or cultural well-being of North Carolina communities and citizens.
Zahran, a student in the policy, leadership, and school improvement concentration of the Ph.D. in Education program, was selected for his research focused on the NC Promise Tuition Plan and its impact on enrollment and student debt.
NC Promise is a state plan launched in 2018 that reduced student tuition to $500 per semester at three UNC System institutions — Elizabeth City State University, The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, and Western Carolina University — and aimed to increase educational access, reduce student debt, and grow the state’s economy. Fayetteville State University was added in 2022 as a fourth System institution to NC Promise.
Of his research, Zahran wrote:
“My research explores the impact of this new policy on enrollment and student loans at the [first] three Promise universities. Preliminary findings suggest that NC Promise increased enrollment among transfer students and decreased borrowing among middle-income students. These findings can help us better understand the effect of tuition subsidies on improving the design of financial aid policy in the future.”