IUP provides
more than $6 million annually in graduate student scholarships, graduate assistantships, teaching associateships, and funds to support graduate student research grants, professional development, and presentation of original scholarship at scholarly conferences.
IUP’s National Achievement Scholarships Office helps undergraduate and graduate students apply and get selected to some of the nation’s most prestigious scholarships and fellowships. IUP students have won a total of 19 Fulbright awards, 12 Barry M. Goldwater Scholarships, 21 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarships, and 10 Freeman-Asia study abroad awards.
IUP is one of only 93 public universities in the nation and one of only six in Pennsylvania designated as a
“High Research Activity” (R2) university by the American Council on Education. During the 2020–21 academic year, IUP received $11 million for research initiatives.
Consistently ranked nationally as a "Best for Vets" university, a "Military Friendly School," a “Best for Military Spouses” school and serving as a Yellow Ribbon university, IUP is also home to an ROTC program that has produced 2,000 U.S. Army second lieutenants and eight generals, along with the 2009 ROTC Top Cadet in the Nation.
IUP has been included Princeton Review's Best Colleges guidebook for more than 20 years, based on students telling guidebook editors that the university is a place of “truly stellar academic departments” and “Professors feel like family and express that they genuinely care about the students outside of just the classroom situation.” IUP is also listed in Forbes Magazine as a top college and Money Magazine’s “Best College for You” list.