Eligibility Requirements

To be eligible for Rockford Promise at NIU, you must:

• Live inside the City limits of the City of Rockford by the first day of freshman year in high school.*
• Attend RPS all four years of high school and earn a cumulative 3.0 grade point average (GPA).
• Apply for Fall 2021 admission to NIU and file a FAFSA or the Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid by the priority deadline of Feb. 1, 2021.
• Complete the Rockford Promise scholarship application by Feb. 1, 2021.

*If you are currently enrolled in an RPS high school as freshman, sophomore, junior or senior, and live in the City of Rockford as of November 10, 2020, and earn a cumulative 3.0 GPA, you are eligible for the program without the four-year residency requirement.

How It Works

The Rockford Promise scholarship covers tuition and general fee expenses that aren't met by other financial aid. To determine the amount of your scholarship, we'll look at your initial NIU, federal and state aid. This includes:

• Federal Pell and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants.
• Illinois Monetary Award Program (MAP) grants.
• Merit scholarships.
• Advantage Grant (our traditional need-based grant).
• Huskie Pledge grant.

Renewal Criteria

• Once admitted to NIU, students must be enrolled in a minimum of 12 credit hours per semester and maintain a 2.5 cumulative GPA at NIU to remain eligible for the scholarship.
• A parent or guardian needs to continue to live within the City of Rockford while the student is in college.
• The Rockford Promise scholarship ends after four years of enrollment or upon graduation, whichever comes first.