Nikole Stewart

Tue, July 14, 2026

Scholarships for Rare Gaming Achievements, PlayStation, Unsplash

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• The University of Silicon Valley is offering scholarships up to $15,000 a year for rare gaming achievements across various genres, with different tiers based on completion rates and hours required.

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Gaming has slowly turned from a bashed hobby to an applauded achievement. Growing up, most of us heard that gaming wouldn't get us anywhere in life, but esports are growing more popular, with some colleges offering various esports options to help further skills. And now? The University of Silicon Valley is offering scholarships for rare gaming achievements.

The Max Achievement Scholarship is starting to turn heads in the gaming community. Not only does the unversity also have esports programs, but they're not giving out thousands of dollars to students who can prove their elite gaming skills.

Xbox Chief Matt Booty Insists Exclusives Are Important Unsplash

The scholarship blurb reads, "You've mastered the world most players never finish. Now your persistence, strategy, and systems thinking can earn you up to $15,000 a calendar year at USV."

There is a wide range of achievements, with different levels to each, that you can pick from. It's broken down into each category, perfect for any player. In MMORPGs, you have Old School RuneScape, World of Warcraft, and Elder Scrolls Online. Dead Cells, Slay the Spire, and Hades are great options in the Roguelike genre.

For crazy challenges, they have a section for Souls-like games, including Dark Souls, Elden Ring, Cuphead, and Hollow Knight. For more strategy based, you have Civilization VI, Factorio, Cities: Skylines, and even Chess.com. A beloved genre, survival, also has achievement options, including Minecraft, Terraria, Don't Starve Together, Stardew Valley, and Subnautica. And don't forget skill-based precision games include Geometry Dash, Beat Saber, Ghostrunner, and more.

Steam Summer Sale Elden Ring Nightreign, FromSoftware, Screenshot via Steam

Each genre is broken down into two tiers, Legendary or Mastery. Mastery tier offers up to $2,500 per term and includes challenges that typically have a 1-5% completion rate. Legendary offers up to $5,000 per term and usually focuses on the ultra-rare achievements that require around 500+ hours to complete, with about a <1% completion rate.

"The Max Achievement Scholarship recognizes students who have demonstrated extraordinary mastery, persistence, and systems thinking through the completion of rare and demanding achievements in digital gaming environments. This merit-based scholarship rewards the same qualities that drive academic excellence: disciplined practice, strategic problem-solving, and the pursuit of mastery beyond minimum requirements."