Midwest private that gives every directly-admitted first-year student a $27,000-$35,000 Presidential Scholarship automatically, then locks tuition for four years — with a small set of competitive top awards layered on top.
Verified Jul 20262 months ago
The short answer
Is Drake worth a closer look?
Drake is worth checking if your student has strong grades or scores. We found 3 published awards, and one is based on those numbers.
Merit tiers31 based on grades or scores
Research checkedJul 2026By our research team
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See what Drake's published rules mean for your student. Takes 30 seconds.
Published scholarships
These amounts and requirements come from the school’s own published pages. Open an award to see who qualifies and how to keep it.
$27,000–$35,000 per year
Presidential Scholarship
Based on grades or scoresCan continue
See who qualifies+
Who qualifies
Awarded to 100% of full-time undergraduate students admitted directly from high school. No separate application. Drake does not publish a GPA/test-banded ladder mapping a profile to a specific dollar amount within the range.
How to keep it
Renewable for students enrolling in at least 12 credit hours per semester and making satisfactory academic progress; renewable up to four years total or until a bachelor's degree is earned.
Must enter directly from high school with a cumulative 3.8 GPA on a 4.0 scale OR rank in the top 5% of the class. Requires a separate National Alumni Scholarship application and the admission application by the December 1 deadline; semifinalists complete virtual interviews in early February.
How to keep it
Full-tuition award covering Drake tuition; competitive, awarded to one recipient.
Same eligibility and competition as the National Alumni Scholarship: enter directly from high school with a 3.8 GPA or top-5% rank, complete the separate scholarship application and admission application by December 1, and interview if selected as a semifinalist.
How to keep it
Applied toward Drake tuition; three awards offered through the same competition as the National Alumni Scholarship.
These are the rules we would flag for your family. Each comes from Drake's published information.
Aid capHard $68,952 cost-of-attendance ceiling
Institutional aid at Drake cannot push the package past $68,952. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.
Straight from the aid office
What Drake's aid office says
Per the Financial Aid Office, Drake University, August 2026. How we verify
Order in which outside scholarships reduce aid
If my son wins an outside scholarship, does it reduce his loans first or lower Drake's own award?
The general policy is that outside scholarships reduce loans first, then work-study, and then scholarships/grants.
“As far as outside scholarships are concerned, our policy is to reduce loans first, work-study second and then scholarships/grants.”
Outside scholarships and the Bulldog Promise Scholarship
Does this policy change if he qualifies for the Bulldog Promise Scholarship as an Iowa resident?
If the student is from Iowa and qualifies for the Bulldog Promise Scholarship, an outside scholarship would reduce that award first because it is a last-dollar scholarship.
“if you are from Iowa and your son qualifies for the Bulldog Promise Scholarship, an outside scholarship would reduce that first because it is considered a last dollar scholarship.”
FAFSA filing for a comprehensive aid package
What should we do to get a full financial aid package?
Filing the 2027-28 FAFSA, which opens October 1, 2027, is encouraged in order to receive a comprehensive financial aid package.
“I would encourage you to file the 2027-28 FAFSA in order to receive a comprehensive financial aid package - the FAFSA will open up October 1, 2027.”
Admission decision and merit award timing
When will we find out about admission and the merit scholarship amount?
Admit decisions are projected for late September to early October for applicants with a complete application including high school transcript, and the admit announcement will include the individual merit scholarship award amount.
“We are projecting admit decisions to be announced late September to early October for those who have already applied with a complete application including high school transcript. The admit announcement will also include the student's individual merit scholarship award amount.”
What families often miss
Drake awards a Presidential Scholarship to 100% of directly-admitted first-year students. It is a tuition discount built into the price, not a selective distinction. The real merit competition is the National Alumni Scholarship layered above it.
The guarantee fixes tuition for four years only. Drake states the cost of room and board is not fixed and may fluctuate, so budget for annual increases on housing and the meal plan.
Drake's public site documents the reporting requirement but not the displacement order. With the Presidential Scholarship already covering a large share of tuition, an outside award may reduce institutional aid rather than stack. Confirm the treatment with the office (x2905) before relying on it.
See award cutoffs and special programs+
Presidential Scholarship — every first-year admit gets $27,000-$35,000 automatically
Drake's Presidential Scholarship is unusual in its breadth: the university states that '100% of full time, undergraduate students admitted directly from high school will receive a Presidential Scholarship,' which ranges from $27,000 to $35,000 per year. There is no separate application — the award is set inside the admission decision. It renews for up to four years (or until a bachelor's degree is earned) as long as the student enrolls in at least 12 credit hours per semester and makes satisfactory academic progress. Paired with the Drake Tuition Guarantee, which fixes tuition for all four years, the Presidential Scholarship produces a net tuition of roughly $17,988-$25,988 for freshmen against a $52,988 gross sticker. Because essentially every directly-admitted student receives it, the Presidential should be read as a tuition discount baked into the price rather than a competitive distinction; the real merit competition at Drake happens above it, through the National Alumni Scholarship.
First-year students entering directly from high school who want a large, guaranteed merit award with no separate application, plus a four-year fixed-tuition guarantee. Top-decile students (3.8 GPA or top 5%) can also compete for the full-tuition National Alumni Scholarship.
Cost of attendance$68,952 for 2025-2026Each bar is the full published cost for that scenario, sized against the highest figure so totals compare at a glance.
On-campus$68,952
$52K
$13K
Tuition & fees
Books
Housing & food
Travel
Personal
Loan fees
Official Drake Financial Aid 2025-2026 Cost of Attendance Budgets PDF; figures shown are the 2025-2026 entrance cohort, on-campus. Books are covered by Drake's Course Ready program (labeled here as Books).
Federal reporting on who actually enrolls at Drake, what they paid after aid, and what happened next — independent of anything the school markets.
Average annual net price by family income at Drake, academic year 2021-22
Family income
Average net price paid
$0–$30,000
$25,824
$30,001–$48,000
$23,275
$48,001–$75,000
$25,171
$75,001–$110,000
$27,408
$110,001+
$33,126
All income levels (average)
$29,127
Sticker price vs. what students actually pay
Published tuition & fees, AY 2022-23
$52,130
Average net price paid (all Title-IV aid), AY 2021-22
$29,127
That works out to roughly a 55% discount below the federal AY 2021-22 average cost of attendance of $64,835 (College Scorecard — a separate, federally reported figure, not the published cost of attendance shown above).
Outcomes for students who enrolled here
Graduation rate (150% of normal time), 2016 cohort
74%
First-year retention rate, 2021 cohort
84%
Median debt at completion, 2020–2021 completers
$23,000 (~$244/mo on a 10-yr plan)
Median earnings, 10 years after entry (measured 2020-21)
$71,901
Share of students receiving a Pell grant, AY 2021-22
25%
Share of students receiving a federal loan, AY 2021-22
49%
See other scholarships and cost examples+
If your student brings another scholarship
Outside scholarships only trigger an aid adjustment if total aid would exceed the cost of attendance (or the student's aid eligibility cap); below that ceiling, awards are not displaced.
Verified policy language (2026-07-02): Please note that outside scholarships must be counted as student financial assistance. If outside scholarships combined with other financial aid exceed a student's cost of attendance, a revision of the student's financial aid package will be required.
These awards can be harder to find. Each one has its own rules.
Amount$1,500 per yearEligibilityIncoming first-year students who are National Merit finalists and have named Drake as their first-choice institution may be considered for the Drake-sponsored National Merit Scholarship.
Yes. Drake states that '100% of full time, undergraduate students admitted directly from high school will receive a Presidential Scholarship,' ranging from $27,000 to $35,000 per year. There is no separate application.
What does it take to win Drake's full-tuition scholarship?
The National Alumni Scholarship (one full-tuition award) and three $10,000 Carpenter Scholarships require entering directly from high school with a 3.8 GPA or a top-5% class rank, a separate scholarship application plus the admission application by December 1, and a virtual interview if you are named a semifinalist in early February.
Is Drake's tuition locked for four years?
Tuition is. The Drake Tuition Guarantee fixes tuition so it will not change during your four years (for first-year/transfer students entering Fall 2026). Room and board are not locked and may fluctuate.
What is Drake's net tuition after the Presidential Scholarship?
Against a 2026-27 gross tuition of $52,988, Drake lists net tuition after the Presidential Scholarship at $17,988-$25,988 for freshmen and $23,988-$28,988 for transfers — before any other awards.
Will an outside scholarship reduce my Drake award?
Drake requires you to report outside scholarships but does not publish the order in which aid is reduced. Because the Presidential Scholarship already covers a large share of tuition, an outside award could displace institutional aid. Call the Financial Aid Office (1-800-44-DRAKE, x2905) before counting on it adding to your package.
See sources and other schools+
How Drake compares
235 of 749 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Drake is in a recognizable cluster (235 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
665 of 749 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Drake is one of them. The cohort minority (84 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against Drake’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
