The University of Silicon Valley is turning heads for its unique scholarship program, which awards thousands of dollars to students who can prove their leet gaming skills.
Some colleges have esports programs, while others offer game development courses. The University of Silicon Valley has a few of those, too — but they also have a ‘Max Achievement Scholarship,’ which is turning heads across the internet due to its unusual requirements.
More specifically, USV is awarding scholarship money to students who are really good at games. A wide variety of titles are on offer, including MMORPGs like Final Fantasy XIV and Old School Runescape, Roguelikes like Hades and Risk of Rain 2, Sandbox games like Minecraft, and many more.
To earn the scholarship cash, students must prove they’ve earned specific in-game achievements across two separate tiers: Mastery and Legendary. Mastery earns students up to $2,500 per term, while Legendary nets them up to $5,000 per term, with each year consisting of three terms.
For example, they can submit their achievement for Old School RuneScape by getting Max Cape (earned after getting all 24 skills to level 99). In Final Fantasy XIV, players can submit for Legendary Tier by getting all 20 combat jobs and 8 crafter/gatherer jobs to level 100.
While this might seem like an odd means of financial assistance, USV argues this scholarship rewards “the same qualities that drive academic excellence: disciplined practice, strategic problem-solving, and the pursuit of mastery beyond minimum requirements.”
“These are the same traits that define our Polymathic Domains — including Systems Thinking & Engineering, Computational Fluency, and Agentic AI Collaboration. USV believes mastery is mastery — whether expressed through code, art, design, or virtual worlds,” the site says.
While achievements across quite a few games are up for grabs, the University tells students not to worry if their title of choice isn’t listed on the website; they can still submit it, as long as they include documentation of its rarity (specifically, a <5% completion rate), and an explanation of the mastery involved. The scholarship committee reviews all applications on a case-by-case basis.
This year marks the debut of the Max Achievement Scholarship, which aims to reward 10 - 15 students in the 2026 - 2027 academic calendar. Expansion of the program is subject to change based on the quality of applicants, as well as the program’s overall success.
This is far from the first time a University has turned heads with unusual academic offerings; in 2021, the University of Glasgow went viral for offering a philosophy course based on The Simpsons titled, ‘D'Oh! The Simpsons Introduce Philosophy.’
Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.
