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Excellence in Student Success Award

APLU Impact

  • The Excellence in Student Success Award recognizes institutions demonstrating a comprehensive, systemic commitment to advancing student success.
  • Through sustainable and innovative initiatives, these institutions enhance degree completion, improve outcomes, and reduce barriers to educational attainment.
  • Up to four finalists will be selected to showcase their approaches at the 2026 APLU Annual Meeting, with one institution receiving the award.
  • APLU may synthesize insights to create a report highlighting collective institutional approaches to student success, helping to inform and advance our collective understanding of effective practices.
Application Portal Application Packet & Guidelines

Application Platform Tutorial

Criteria for Recognition

Applications for the Excellence in Student Success Award will be reviewed based on these key areas:

Comprehensive Coverage of Student Success (25%):
The extent to which the institution demonstrates coordinated progress across multiple dimensions of the student experience.

Institutional Levers and Alignment (20%):
Strength of leadership, governance, faculty and staff engagement, student partnership, technology use, and evidence-informed practice. 

Design Quality and Intentionality (20%):
Clarity, coherence, and strategic integration of institutional student success efforts.

Demonstrated Impact (25%):
Evidence of sustained improvements in student outcomes aligned with institutional goals.

Scaled Design and Replicability (10%):
Durability, scalability, and relevance of institutional practices for peer institutions. 

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

When submitting files thorugh shareable links on GivePulse, each uploaded file must be in PDF, DOC, EXCEL format and no larger than 50 MB. This helps ensure smooth access for reviewers and avoids technical issues during submission.

While you do not need to include ten years of data, multiple years are necessary to show meaningful trends and impact. The goal is to help reviewers understand how your efforts are working over time.

Institutions are welcome to highlight efforts aimed at specific student populations, as long as those efforts are part of a larger, coherent strategy. Reviewers will be looking for how these targeted initiatives contribute to broader student success goals across the institution.

Yes. Stories from students, observations from faculty or staff, and other qualitative examples can be essential parts of your institutional narrative. Reviewers appreciate when this type of evidence is paired with data to paint a fuller picture of impact.

The structure of the application is designed to let you tell your story in a way that makes sense for your institution. Reviewers will apply the evaluation rubric separately, using it to assess the five core dimensions based on all aspects of the application, not just one section.

If you are having trouble uploading files, or with the application portal, please contact us at ESS@aplu.org.

Previous Excellence in Student Success Award Finalists & Winner


2026 Winner
  • Northern Illinois University
  • University of California Merced
  • University of Illinois Chicago
  • University of Tennessee Knoxville