The Illinois Athletic and Academic Strive Scholarship Fund is an endowment fund established with the University of Illinois Foundation. Income from the fund is to be used for "scholarships, grants, or fellowships" for University of Illinois students "who are both gifted students and exceptional athletes, for their combined physical and mental development."
Criteria for selection
- Costs and financial need may be taken into consideration in establishing the amount
of the awards, but "academic and athletic competence shall take precedence
over financial need as factors for qualification" for the awards.
- Scholarships are available to qualified students without regard to university or class level.
- Criteria for academic excellence include: for entering undergraduates, upper 25 percent scholastically of all entering undergraduates for that year; for continuing undergraduates, upper 25 percent of all students in that school or college (based on grades earned through the fall semester of 2025); and for graduate and professional students, good standing and satisfactory progress toward a degree. Applications below stated levels cannot be considered. Please note the minimum grade point averages for your college and campus below.
-
Criteria for athletic excellence include participation over a period of time in amateur athletics for personal
development, rather than career objectives, and special aptitude or ability in athletic endeavors.
-
Varsity athletes attending University of Illinois at Springfield (UIS) should consult their coaches or the athletic compliance office
before filing an application. Awards cannot be "administered or regarded as a substitute for, or for the same purposes as,"
athletic grants-in-aid. Winners can be varsity athletes, but if accepting the Strive award causes the sport to exceed its grant-in-aid
limit, the student athlete will not be able to accept the Strive award and continue to be on the team. Students on varsity athletic
teams are eligible to apply if they meet the minimum academic qualifications and if they: (1) are continuing, rather than new, students;
(2) have a partial grant-in-aid or no grant-in-aid (applies to UIS); and (3) participate on varsity teams that have not utilized maximum
grant-in-aid funds permissible under NCAA or conference rules (applies to UIS).
- Part-time students (undergraduates carrying fewer than 12 semester hours) are not eligible to receive a Strive award.
Recipients of Strive awards must be registered as full-time students at the beginning of each term (fall 2026 and spring 2027
semesters) of the award. Awards are not paid during summer terms.
Minimum Academic Requirements for
2026-2027 Illinois Athletic
and Academic Strive Scholarship
There is an academic requirement for the Strive Scholarship. Please
review the following Minimum Academic Requirements chart to determine your eligibility:
Strive Quartile Cut-Offs
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
| First-time Freshmen (First Term GPA) |
3.94 |
| New Transfer Students (Transfer GPA) |
3.87 |
| Continuing Students (Cumulative GPA) |
|
| |
College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences |
3.77 |
| |
College of Applied Health Sciences |
3.82 |
| |
Gies College of Business |
3.95 |
| |
College of Media |
3.87 |
| |
College of Education |
3.93 |
| |
Grainger College of Engineering |
3.86 |
| |
College of Fine and Applied Arts |
3.86 |
| |
Division of Exploratory Studies |
3.65 |
| |
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
3.87 |
| |
School of Information Sciences |
3.91 |
| |
School of Social Work |
3.89 |
University of Illinois Chicago
| First-time Freshmen (First Term GPA) |
3.82 |
| New Transfer Students (Transfer GPA) |
3.63 |
| Continuing Students (Cumulative GPA) |
|
| |
College of Applied Health Sciences |
3.58 |
| |
College of Architecture, Design, and the Arts |
3.73 |
| |
College of Business Administration |
3.68 |
| |
College of Education |
3.79 |
| |
College of Engineering |
3.63 |
| |
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
3.69 |
| |
College of Nursing |
3.80 |
| |
Retzky College of Pharmacy |
3.77 |
| |
School of Public Health |
3.73 |
| |
College of Urban Planning and Public Affairs |
3.70 |
University of Illinois Springfield
| First-time Freshmen (First Term GPA) |
3.80 |
| New Transfer Students (Transfer GPA) |
3.49 |
| Continuing Students (Cumulative GPA) |
|
| |
College of Business and Management |
3.68 |
| |
College of Health, Science, and Technology |
3.85 |
| |
College of Liberal Arts and Sciences |
3.77 |
| |
College of Public Affairs and Education |
3.82 |
PLEASE NOTE: Applicants must meet these criteria to be considered for a Strive
Scholarship. The minimum GPA for the college of current enrollment will be applied to
continuing undergraduates.
The application deadline is February 8, 2026. Recipients will be announced in late April 2026.
We look forward to receiving your application!
Access the application using the link below.
All fields must be completed in one session;
the application cannot be saved and edited later.
It is recommended to type longer responses in a separate,
saved document and copy and paste the responses into the application.
Be mindful of word limits; the application will not submit if one or
more responses exceed the maximum limit.
Apply to the scholarship
If you have any questions, please call University Academic Programs and Services at
(217) 333-2030 or email: uspscholarships@uillinois.edu