Texas Interscholastic League Foundation Scholarships

The application window for 2026 will open on March 1. The deadline for submissions will be May 22, 2026. All applicants will be notified of their status by mid-July.

Please have electronic versions of the following items available to submit with your application:

• high school transcript (seven-semester is fine)
• SAT/ACT score reports (if you took these tests)
• letter of recommendation from your superintendant, principal, assistant principal, UIL coach, or counselor
• copy of page 1 and 2 of your parent or guardian's most recent IRS 1040 form with all social security and bank account and routing numbers blacked out
• copy of your financial aid notification from your chosen college or university (or your FAFSA Submission Summary that includes your Student Aid Index (SAI))

Who can apply?

Students who meet the following criteria:

• Must have competed at the UIL Academic State Meet, Congressional Debate State Meet, One-Act Play State Meet, or Theatrical Design State Meet OR must have advanced to the octofinal round (second day) of the Cross Examination Debate State Meet, OR must be a state finalist in the Barbara Jordan Historical Essay Competition, the Latino History Essay Competition, or the Young Filmmakers Festival OR must have been a member of one of the top 10 teams per competition group at the BEST, FIRST, or RECF-VEX state robotics contests
• Must plan to attend an accredited college or university in the state of Texas
• Must enroll full-time in college and maintain a 2.5 college GPA (some scholarships require higher GPAs
• Must be graduating from high school during the current academic year
  
  PLEASE NOTE: participation only in ATHLETIC or MUSIC contests does not qualify a student to apply for a TILF scholarship. A student MUST advance to state in an ACADEMIC contest to apply.

Qualifying contests are as follows:

Accounting, Barbara Jordan Historical Essay Competition*, Calculator Applications, Computer Applications, Computer Science, Congress, Current Issues and Events, Debate (Cross-Examination* & Lincoln-Douglas), Journalism (Copy Editing, Editorial Writing, Feature Writing, Headline Writing & News Writing), Literary Criticism, Mathematics, Number Sense, Latino History Essay Competition*, One-Act Play, Ready Writing, Robotics*, Science, Social Studies, Speech (Prose Interpretation, Poetry Interpretation, Informative Speaking & Persuasive Speaking), Spelling & Vocabulary, Theatrical Design, and Young Filmmakers Festival*.

Special Notes: For students who compete in the Cross-Examination Debate contest, they must advance to the second day of competition (octofinals) to be eligible to apply. For students who compete in the Barbara Jordan Historical Essay Competition, Latino History Essay Competition, and/or Young Filmmakers Festival, only students who advance to state finals are eligible to apply. For students who compete in BEST, FIRST, or RECF-VEX Robotics contests, only members of the top 10 teams in each competition group are eligible to apply.

Advancing to the state level in any academic pilot contests that are not officially sanctioned by the UIL for the 2025-26 school year does not qualify a student to apply for TILF scholarships.

All applicants must meet the main scholarship criteria and should also consider any additional requirements for individual donors listed on the scholarships page. (Please note, however, that applicants are applying directly to the program and not for a specific scholarship. Our scholarship committee makes the final determination on recipients.)

Selection Criteria

Below are the criteria our board members and donors use for scholarship selections, but it's important to note that participating or even placing first in a UIL academic event does not automatically qualify a student, it just makes them eligible to apply. Consideration is based partly, though not entirely on the following factors:

1. Successful academic performance demonstrated by high grade point average and rank in high school graduating class;

2. Need for financial assistance;

3. High college entrance exam scores;

4. Successful participation in UIL academic competition;

5. Plans to enroll for the fall semester in an accredited college or university in the state of Texas and;

6. Community involvement.