CUSA institutions are among the nation’s best in academic performance of student-athletes, bolstered by the fact that student-athletes at league schools have a higher graduation rate than the general student population. Among CUSA’s 5,000 student-athletes, there are champions off the playing field as well. In 28 years, more than 40,000 student-athletes have been named to the Commissioner’s Honor Roll or received the Commissioner’s Academic Medal, indicative of outstanding achievement in the classroom.

Conference USA recognizes student-athletes in many areas for academic achievement. Those areas include the Commissioner's Honor Roll, Commissioner's Academic Medal, the Scholar Athlete of the Year Awards, Sport Academic Awards, the Institutional Excellence Award and Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarships.

2022-23 Winners
Commissioner's Honor Roll (2,715 student-athletes)
Commissioner's Academic Medal (901 student-athletes)
Scholar Athletes of the Year
Institutional Excellence and Sport Academic Awards
Jim Castañeda Postgraduate Scholarships

Commissioner's Honor Roll
Honor Roll is awarded to student-athletes in Conference sponsored sports that have achieved a 3.0 cumulative GPA or above.

Commissioner's Academic Medal
All recipients of the Conference USA Commissioner's Academic Medal have achieved a 3.75 cumulative GPA or above during the academic year.

Scholar Athletes of the Year
The awards are voted on by the conference’s Faculty Athletic Representatives and are presented to the top student-athletes in each conference-sponsored sport based on academic achievement (GPA), athletic achievement and service.

Institutional Excellence and Sport Academic Awards
The Institutional Excellence Award is given to the C-USA institution with the highest GPA during each academic year for all student-athletes in conference-sponsored sports.
 
The Sport Academic Award is given to the team in each conference-sponsored sport with the highest GPA for the academic year.

Jim Castañeda? Postgraduate Scholarships
2023 marked the 15^th year the award has been named after Dr. Jim Castañeda, who served Rice for 46 years as an educator, coach and Faculty Athletics Representative before he passed in 2008. Every season, C-USA grants the $4,000 scholarship to distinguished graduates selected by the league’s Faculty Athletics Representatives and approved by the Conference USA Board of Directors.