LGBTQIA+-Related Scholarships

Learn about scholarships and grants for undergraduate and/or graduate LGBTQIA+ and allied students. Scholarships are gift aid (i.e. money you do not have to repay). Scholarships may be awarded solely based on academic merit, or they may be awarded based on merit and additional criteria including academic concentration, community involvement, leadership, or financial need, among others.

  • UIS Gender & Sexuality Student Services’ InQUEERy trains students to interact with their peers to stand up against homophobia, transphobia, heterosexism and other transgressions through innovative activities and workshops. Students receive a $500 scholarship per semester after one year. Honorary members still learning to be a peer educator and that are still within their first year of the program receive a $250 scholarship per semester.
  • The Acorn Equality Fund is accepting applications for scholarships of $1,000 to $4,000 for LGBT students, allies, or their children in downstate Illinois. These scholarships recognize achievements in numerous areas and applications are typically due every September.
  • The #TransgenderFirst Scholarship is the first national scholarship exclusively dedicated to helping underserved Transgender students get affordable access to a college education.
  • Human Rights Campaign LGBTQ Student Scholarship Database includes access to scholarships for students across the country and in specific regions of the country.

If you administer or are aware of a scholarship or grant that could benefit a student at the University of Illinois Springfield or any Central Illinois student and would like to have it listed here, please contact us at 217-206-8316 or at gss@uis.edu.