Undergraduate Funding

Illinois Promise

With the shift of primary funding for state universities from state support to tuition, the need to maintain access to higher education is particularly pressing. Illinois Promise began in fall 2005 to ensure the affordability of higher education for students from the lowest income levels. Illinois Promise assures eligible recipients sufficient grant and scholarship funds in combination with a minimal employment expectation to cover their estimated cost of tuition and fees, room and board, and books and supplies. Illinois Promise doesn’t provide funding for summer classes. For eligibility requirements and more information, please visit the Office of Student Financial Aid.

Awards for Incoming First-Year Students

Admissions Committee-Determined Support

The School of Art & Design Admissions Committee, which is made up of faculty, reviews all prospective student portfolios during the admissions process. Scholarship offers are made based on merit and/or financial need.

Art & Design Scholarship

Funded by various donors, this scholarship is awarded in varied amounts and may be used to purchase books and supplies.

James Avery Scholarship

The James Avery Scholarship awards multiple scholarships to Art & Design undergraduate students. Industrial Design majors are eligible to receive $6,000 annually over the four years of their undergraduate education. James Avery, ’46, is a renowned educator and jewelry designer who donated the scholarship funds as a tribute to former Art & Design faculty member James Ross Shipley, a professor fondly remembered as “Coach.” Professor Shipley encouraged artistic innovation and experimentation in his teaching, which is the inspiring principle for these scholarships.

Clyde P. Davis Scholarship

The Clyde P. Davis Scholarship provides four years of full-ride financial support to incoming freshmen from the greater Chicago area who have been accepted into the School of Art & Design. Mr. Davis received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Advertising Design from the university as a student between 1956 and 1960. While taking classes he also worked to support his wife and young family, leaving Illinois to seek opportunity in New York City. After years of hard work and initiative he founded and headed up the award-winning firm Cline, Davis & Mann, Inc. until his retirement in 2002. He chose to give back to his alma mater by establishing this scholarship so that other young, talented students from his home city could attend Illinois without the financial struggle that he experienced, and in hope of attracting the brightest and most talented students possible to the School of Art & Design at Illinois.

Maria Ludeke and Esteban Gast Scholarship

The Ludeke/Gast Scholarship provides a one-year $1,000 scholarship award to an incoming freshman. Maria is a Clyde P. Davis Scholar, graduating in 2013 with a double major (BFA in painting and graphic design). She met and married Esteban Gast, who is also a graduate of the University of Illinois. Receiving the Davis Scholarship profoundly changed Maria’s life. Without it, she would not have been able to attend Illinois, which changed the course of her life. Consequently, she and Esteban chose to establish this scholarship fund to collect donations in lieu of wedding gifts when they married in 2014.

Stephanie Ognar Memorial Scholarship

The Ognar Memorial Scholarship is awarded to students enrolled in the School of Art & Design and provides a one-year $1,000 scholarship. Stephanie was an artist and information professional who received a BFA in art education in 1996, an MFA in art and design in 1999, and an MS in library and information science in 2002 from the University of Illinois. Her family established this scholarship to honor her memory and to highlight her love of art and being an artist.

Lois Marie Orr Scholarship

Established in 1999 in honor of Lois Marie Orr, the Orr Scholarship is awarded to undergraduate students in varying amounts with a preference given to incoming freshmen. The scholarship amount and duration vary based on merit and need.

John and Antoinette Rojc Scholarship

The John and Antoinette Rojc Scholarship provides financial support to incoming freshmen in the School of Art & Design in the amount of $5,000 per year for four years. The scholarship was established to honor Mr. and Mrs. Rojc’s dedication to the education of their five children, who all graduated from the University of Illinois between 1976 and 1984, and the proud realization of their American dream. John and Antoinette Rojc immigrated to Chicago from Central Europe: John from Slovenia in 1930 and Antoinette from the Moravian region of the Czech Republic in 1938. Mr. Rojc became a designer at Motorola during the earliest stages of the cell phone. His career spanned 35 years, during which he was recognized with multiple patents. Mrs. Rojc raised their five children in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, with devotion to the importance of education. She was honored as a finalist for the University of Illinois Mom of the Year award in 1981. The Rojcs’ perseverance was rewarded upon the graduation of each of their five children from the University of Illinois: Karl,’76; Kenneth, BA ’77, LAS; Kathleen, BFA ’78, FAA; Karen, BS ’82, COM; and Keith, BFA ’84, FAA. The Rojc Scholarship was established in 2016 in memory of Mr. and Mrs. Rojc by Kathleen Rojc Twardock and David Twardock, BS ’79, COE, and Kenneth Rojc.

Mengchen Huang Memorial Scholarship/Fellowship

The Huang Scholarship is awarded to undergraduate and graduate students studying pre-modern Chinese studies, including literature, history, and religious studies, all with art history as a priority. Additionally, priority consideration is given to graduate fellowships in Fine and Applied Arts. This award was established to honor Mengchen Huang’s memory as a person who was dedicated to and meticulous in her work, as well as a passionate student, researcher, teacher, friend, and colleague at the University of Illinois.

Tuition Waiver

The State of Illinois allocates merit-based partial tuition waivers to the School of Art & Design for distribution to incoming students. The amount of financial support and the number of waivers vary.