Western Illinois University is home to the Centennial Honors College, which was founded in 1983 in order to attract more adept students as freshmen, as well as an avenue by which the most talented students at Western Illinois could distinguish themselves from other students at the university. Accordingly, the GPA admissions standard for the Centennial Honors College is nearly a full grade point higher (0.9) than the minimum GPA of any other college at the university, the second being the College of Business and Technology. Honors students complete a series of courses and projects unavailable to average students studying at Western Illinois, and are also eligible for a host of exclusive foundation scholarships.