Drake · Iowa

Drake Merit Aid

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 May 20268 days ago· C2-2
Merit tiers31 automatic on stats
Last verifiedMay 2026Analyst C2-2

Rules that bite at Drake

The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Drake's own published policy, not generic advice.

  • displacementNo published displacement order

    Drake's policy doesn't specify whether outside scholarships hit loans, grants, or only the COA ceiling. Get a written aid-office answer before chasing private awards.

Common merit-aid mistakes at Drake

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

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.

Source

Who this school is for

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
  • 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).

Drake cost-of-attendance source

Institutional merit aid tiers

Every tier below is sourced to the school’s own published financial aid pages. Renewal terms apply only if the student maintains the stated GPA.

$27,000–$35,000 per year

Presidential Scholarship

AutomaticRenewable
View requirements
Eligibility

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.

Renewal terms

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.

Source

One full-tuition award

National Alumni Scholarship

ApplicationRenewable
GPA
3.8
Requirements & details
Eligibility

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.

Renewal terms

Full-tuition award covering Drake tuition; competitive, awarded to one recipient.

Source

$10,000 per year (three awards)

Carpenter Scholarship

ApplicationRenewable
GPA
3.8
Requirements & details
Eligibility

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.

Renewal terms

Applied toward Drake tuition; three awards offered through the same competition as the National Alumni Scholarship.

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Outside scholarship stacking policy

Drake requires students to report outside scholarships to the Financial Aid Office. Its public outside-scholarship page does not publish a displacement order (which aid is reduced first), so families cannot tell from the site whether an outside award will retire loans or trim the Presidential Scholarship. Confirm with the aid office before counting on stacking.

Drake's published Outside Scholarships page instructs students to report any outside assistance by completing a form but does not state the order in which aid is reduced if total aid exceeds the cost of attendance. The reduction mechanics are decided by the Financial Aid Office (1-800-44-DRAKE, x2905) rather than published as a formula, so the displacement effect on the Presidential Scholarship is not knowable from the public site.

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Lesser-known scholarships at Drake

Named awards that don’t always surface on the main financial aid page. Each one has its own eligibility 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.

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Drake merit aid FAQ

  • Is Drake's Presidential Scholarship automatic?

    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.

How Drake compares across our verified dataset

  • 44 of 203 verified schools in our dataset use unclear or unpublished displacement.

    Drake is in a recognizable cluster (44 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.

  • 44 of 203 verified schools publish no clear displacement order.

    Drake is one of them. The right move is the aid-office email script below, not a guess.

  • 178 of 203 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.

    Drake is one of them. The cohort minority (25 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.

Compare with similar schools

  • Iowa merit aid — Iowa public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Iowa State merit aid — Iowa public university — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Tulane merit aid — Louisiana private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.
  • Wake Forest merit aid — North Carolina private school — compare automatic merit, amounts, and stacking.

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