NIU AIM HIGH Partnership Awards

Beginning with the fall 2024 entry term, NIU will move from a one-time, $3,000 award to an annual, renewable $1,000 award ($4,000 total) for all eligible CPS/DeKalb County new first-year students.

• This will increase the total award amount for each student from $3,000 to $4,000.
• This will help students/families with financial planning by knowing that they can expect to receive this same amount in each of their four years.
• Previously, students were often challenged with a $3,000 gap in their financial aid after the first year.
• Collectively, this will help increase student retention and persistence, a key university goal and focus of NIU’s Strategic Enrollment Management Plan 2.0.

• Continuous full-time enrollment each fall and spring semester.
• Maintain an NIU cumulative GPA of 2.5 or higher.
• Meet all standards of Satisfactory Academic Progress.
• You have not attempted 135 credit hours or earned a degree.
• Meet all criteria as outlined by the State of Illinois AIM HIGH program.
• The renewability of this scholarship is contingent on future state appropriation and funding for the AIM HIGH program.

The number varies from year to year, but over the past few years the number of new first-year students from CPS and DeKalb County has been between 500 and 700.

We are responding to many of our students and community-based organizations who work with high school students. They asked for awards that are committed to and renewable for all four years of enrollment.

No. This is only for new first-year students beginning in the fall 2024 entry term.

As part of the State’s AIM HIGH program, students must still meet the AIM HIGH eligibility requirements.