Dive Brief:

• Robert Morris University in Chicago has been increasing its number of athletic scholarships — now more than 700, compared to 150 a decade ago — to try to ward off declining enrollment.
• Notable this year are scholarships offered for the country’s first varsity videogame team, worth up to $50,000 apiece, the Wall Street Journal reports.
• Other scholarships are offered in bowling, color guard, cheerleading, dance, and for the student who dresses up as the school’s eagle mascot. Others have been considered for roller derby, bass fishing, and paintball.

Dive Insight:

Considering the growing popularity of watching video games, fielding a videogame-playing team and offering scholarships makes a lot of sense. Twitch.tv, a video-game watching website purchased by Amazon for $1.1 billion, had 55 million unique users in July — viewership that beats some prominent cable TV channels. When the school announced that it would offer 60 videogame playing scholarships for up to 50% of tuition, room, and board, and the announcement was picked up by the creator of the League of Legends video game, the school received 2,200 inquiries within 48 hours. The school’s total undergraduate enrollment is more than 3,200.