BFU Application Process

There is one Bicycle Friendly University application cycle a year -- the deadline is typically late summer, with awards announced in the fall. A new cycle begins shortly after an application cycle closes, so applicants have several months to fill out the online application.

This comprehensive inquiry is designed to yield a holistic picture of an applicant institution's work to promote bicycling on campus and in the surrounding community.

After a brief review of the general institution profile, the applicant will continue to the audit portion of the application, which asks questions about the college or university’s engineering, education, encouragement, evaluation, and equity efforts.

Most questions are multiple choice but write-in fields can be used to provide more details. This comprehensive inquiry is designed to yield a holistic picture of an applicant institution’s work to promote bicycling. We refer to these sections as the Five Es. Before the application is submitted, applicants can upload supplemental material such as photos and other supporting documentation that will be reviewed by the judging panel together with the application.

To learn more about the application process, visit the Getting Started page.

Award Determination

After a deadline, the League contacts local bicycle advocates for input on colleges or universities in their area. Local reviewers usually have 2-3 weeks to submit an online review of the applicant.

Once all local feedback is received, it is shared with the judging panel. Each judge then takes about 3-4 weeks to review each application, together with any supplemental material and the local feedback. Applications that receive a range of award suggestions are discussed during a review meeting.

Learn more about BFU Award Levels and General Scoring Guidelines.