Our Opinion: The Pack Promise is an admirable program with the ability to help unprivileged candidates receive a higher education.

This fall, more than 350 students will have a more confident stride when they enter the halls of our University. That’s because these students will be able to concentrate on making the grade and not about making ends meet.

Thanks to a new University program called Pack Promise, 350 to 400 incoming freshmen will have 100 percent of their financial needs met next year. The students who qualify will be those whose family income is at or below 150 percent of poverty level.

Pack Promise is a great example of our University’s commitment to helping all driven students succeed, especially those who are at a disadvantage financially. While some students worry about hangovers, studying for tests and getting tickets to the next football game, others worry about whether they will even be at N.C. State for the next football game if the well runs dry.

It is important to give these students the confidence they need to be successful at our school. No one ever said college was easy, and Pack Promise levels the playing field for low-income students who have more of a burden to bear.

Many know what it is like to need a little boost financially. Close to 60 percent of students in the 2004-2005 academic year qualified for some sort of financial aid, be it grants, loans, scholarships or other benefits. The positive influence of financial aid is undeniable and well known by many who attend N.C. State.

If all goes according to plan, the program will be fully functional in three to four years and will assist an estimated 1,600 students. That’s 1,600 students who will be financially set up for success; 1,600 students who will be given a chance to leap insurmountable financial obstacles; 1,600 students who will perhaps go on to combat the epidemic of poverty that Pack Promise helped them to overcome.

Pack Promise is one worth keeping.