University of Illinois Achievement Scholarship
Offered by University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
About this scholarship
The University of Illinois Achievement Scholarship is a renewable merit and need award for incoming first-year students from outside Illinois. Recipients receive $10,000 per year for four years, a potential total of $40,000, while they remain full-time students assessed at the nonresident tuition rate. There is no separately named Achievement Scholarship application. Every first-year applicant is considered through the University of Illinois admission review, and the Office of Student Financial Aid uses the FAFSA to establish the required financial need. For fall 2027, Illinois opens the Common Application September 1. The nonbinding early action deadline is November 1, 2026, with required materials due November 7; the regular admission deadline is January 5, 2027, with materials due January 11. Applying early gives students top consideration, although the university continues full scholarship review through the regular deadline. Illinois evaluates academic excellence through curriculum, grades, application writing, activities, achievements, and the context of the applicant’s opportunities. Scholarship notifications are released after admission and no later than April 1. Renewal requires continuous full-time fall and spring enrollment, satisfactory academic progress, and continued nonresident tuition status.
Eligibility
- Apply as an incoming first-year student to the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
- Be classified and assessed as a non-Illinois resident
- Demonstrate financial need through a processed FAFSA
- Demonstrate academic excellence through the holistic admission application
- Submit the Common Application by November 1, 2026 for early action or January 5, 2027 for regular consideration
- Submit all required admission materials by the corresponding materials deadline
- For renewal, maintain continuous full-time enrollment and satisfactory academic progress
- Continue to be assessed nonresident tuition while receiving the award