Northeastern Illinois University has founded the Golden Opportunity Scholarship that will cover up to the full cost of tuition and fees for qualifying freshmen beginning in Fall 2019. In order to be eligible for the scholarship, students must meet five primary criteria:
- Submit a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA)
- Be an Illinois resident who attended an Illinois high school
- Be admitted to Northeastern as an incoming full-time freshman
- Have an annual adjusted gross income of $61,000 or less
- Have a minimum high school academic GPA of 3.0
The scholarship has been founded with the assistance of the Illinois AIM HIGH grant program, which contributed $25 million to Illinois public universities. Of that total, $800,000 will go to Northeastern Illinois University beginning in the 2019-2020 school year. The goal of the program is to increase enrollment and retention of Illinois residents within the state’s public universities. Northeastern will match the state’s contribution for a total of $1.6 million in new scholarship money for qualifying freshmen.
“Northeastern Illinois University is committed to access to higher education and to student success, and this scholarship strongly supports that commitment,” Northeastern President Gloria J. Gibson said. “We appreciate the state’s support as we continue to educate students from Illinois, for Illinois.”
Golden Opportunity Scholarship awardees will receive support for up to eight continuous fall and spring semesters as long as the Minimum Standards of Academic Progress and the minimum academic GPA requirement are maintained.
For continuing students and students who do not qualify for the Golden Opportunity Scholarship, Northeastern offers a range of additional scholarships to offset the cost of tuition, fees and other expenses associated with attending college. Among those scholarships is the Presidential Scholarship, which covers full in-state tuition, fees and provides a book allowance, and includes automatic admission into the University Honors Program.
