LiveOn Student Success Grant

Penn State Housing and Food Services provides not only campus housing and dining within minutes of students’ academic and extracurricular pursuits, but offers a sense of community, comfort, and safety; student support, programming, and engagement through Residence Life offer opportunities to meet lifelong friends, explore new interests as well as pursue personal, academic, and social interests. 

• Students must be U.S. residents.
• Recipients must be NEW undergraduate first-year or transfer students to the University.
• Students do not have to apply for the grant; automatically considered based on financial need.
• To ensure consideration:
  • Complete an undergraduate admissions application by November 30 for the following academic year; prospective transfer student completed admissions application for the coming fall or spring semester by the suggested deadline date.
  • Select a participating Commonwealth Campus or University Park as one of their campus choices on the admission application (first choice or alternate choice).
  • Chosen academic major has no bearing on grant selection.
• Grants are limited.
• Annual renewal criteria include:
  • Enroll at a designated LiveOn campus over eight consecutive semesters
  • Participate in the Request Housing process in the fall semester for the next academic year to secure Penn State-managed housing.
  • Schedule 15 credits per semester (fall, spring) and successfully complete a minimum of 24 credits by the end of the spring semester of each academic year. (Completing 30 credits per academic year is recommended to ensure graduation in four years or eight semesters.)
  • Be in good academic standing (cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher) at the end of the spring semester of each academic year.
  • Students who complete a Change of Campus that offers Penn State-managed housing are eligible to retain the grant. 
  • University Park LiveOn Grant recipients who are nursing students (General BSN Degree Program) are required to reside one full academic year in housing operated by Penn State College of Medicine for clinical experience at Penn State Hershey Medical Center and receive similar housing financial support.  

Students who meet eligibility guidelines will receive notice of the grant and detailed specifics during aid awarding in early February when student aid awarding begins. Spring admits and transfer students will be awarded on a rolling basis.

Offer of admission must be accepted by admission offer deadline and acceptance of Housing and Food Service (HFS) Contract completed to receive the grant.

• LiveOn grant program helps students seeking a Penn State residential experience
  • The program provides recipients approximately $12,000 across four years to help bridge the cost of campus room and board
• Eric and Molly Barron make a gift to establish a student food security endowment
  • Initial efforts to allay the issue of food insecurity are the new LiveOn Student Success Grant pilot program, which provides room-and-board aid for residential students across the commonwealth
• Penn State evolving food and housing efforts to support students in need
  • The University is enhancing current resources and its network of support for students across campuses
• New LiveOn Student Success Grant assists need-based students with room and board
  • $2.4 million in Penn State Housing and Food Services funds to support the cost of attendance, promote undergraduate student academic success and degree completion
• Barron discusses access and affordability strategies to support students
  • Scholarships, academic advising, food security, new housing grants and more are topics of focus during the president’s presentation to the Board of Trustees