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University Leadership Network

The University Leadership Network (ULN) is a nationally recognized incentive-based scholarship program. ULN’s mission is to encourage and support students to graduate in four years and become leaders through professional and experiential learning opportunities that advance their education, communities, and lives.

Participation in ULN spans a student’s four years at UT. The financial support and comprehensive four-year plan allow students to streamline their educational experience, helping them to minimize student loan debt and graduate career-ready and poised to become leaders in their community.

Program Components

ULN Scholarship

ULN students receive a scholarship of up to $20,000 (up to $5,000 per year over your four years at UT) based on participation in the program’s four-year plan. In partnership with the Office of Scholarships and Financial Aid, ULN awards scholarship funds to students at the beginning of the fall and spring semesters.

Eligibility

ULN scholarship eligibility is based on a student’s Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). The ULN scholarship is in addition to any other grants or scholarships a student might receive, so a student’s ULN scholarship amount might be adjusted if their total financial aid exceeds the university’s cost of attendance. In keeping with ULN’s goal of minimizing student loan debt, if a student obtains additional resources and the ULN award impacts the amount of financial aid for which they are eligible, student loans are reduced first.

Four-Year Plan

ULN’s four-year plan guides students’ journey both inside and outside the classroom. Throughout their four years at UT, ULN students must complete 30 credit hours per year (including transfer hours) and maintain a 2.0 to 4.0 cumulative GPA. Download details for the plan.

Academic Support

Each year, students in the University Leadership Network are assigned a dedicated ULN Coordinator who specializes in supporting students for that specific year. By working exclusively with students from a particular year, these coordinators can offer personalized support tailored to the challenges and experiences typical of that stage. Whether it’s course planning, financial aid assistance, coordinating student activities, or researching experiential learning opportunities, our ULN Coordinators provide personalized support to ensure active participation.

ULN Coordinators

Experiential Learning and Career Readiness

Developing marketable skills through experiential learning is a key element of the ULN program. Experiential learning happens both in and out of the classroom and helps students develop transferable skills and learn how to navigate a professional work environment. 

To maintain their scholarship, ULN students are required to complete 10 hours of experiential learning per week during the fall and spring semesters of their second, third, and fourth years in the program. Employers who host ULN students are ULN Partners, and ULN’s dedicated Experiential Learning Coordinator works directly with ULN Partners to create meaningful experiential learning opportunities on campus, in Austin, throughout Texas, and around the world. Find out more. 

College Success Programs

Additionally, all first-year ULN students also belong to one of the college success programs listed below. ULN works directly with the college success programs to ensure students receive robust support and programming to help them develop academically and professionally.

Make Life Better Scholarship

University Leadership Network is partnering with Eli Lilly & Company to offer the Make Life Better Scholarship exclusively to ULN Scholars who are sophomores and in their second year at The University of Texas at Austin. Through this initiative, 10 scholarships of up to $10,000 each will be awarded each year for three years. Find out more.

Program Results

ULN was founded in 2013 and celebrated its first graduating class in 2017. It was predicted that only 33% of ULN’s Class of 2017 would graduate in four years, but more than half of ULN students who started the program in 2013 graduated within four years. ULN’s four-year graduation rate has increased every year since, proving that combining significant financial support with consistent leadership training is making a difference in ULN students’ lives.

ULN Newsletter