UC Irvine To Offer Scholarship Program To Overwatch Players

LOS ANGELES (CBSLA.com) — This fall, the University of California, Irvine, will begin to offer an Overwatch-based scholarship program to their students.

UCI already has an esports scholarship program, making Overwatch the second game to join the University's program.

Those selected to the program will receive yearly financial aid of $2,500 to help cover tuition fees in exchange for a commitment of 15-20 hours per week during the esports season.

The student will be responsible to take part in practices, team meetings, community service, workouts, and competitions.

"We are very excited to take this next step in growing our scholarship program for top gamers who are also strong students and great members of our community," Mark Deppe, Acting Director of UCI eSports told ESPN.com.

"We look forward to connecting the excitement generated by our competitive teams to advance efforts along our other pillars: Academics, Community and Entertainment."

Those who are apart of the program will also receive coaching, personal training, psychological treatment, and unlimited access to UCI's esports arena.

The addition to the program comes after the school's club Overwatch team won the Tespa Summer Series in 2016 and going undefeated in the Tespa Collegiate Series fall of the same year.

Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer online first-person shooter video game.