Jesuit university in Milwaukee with one automatically-awarded merit scholarship (the Père Marquette Award) for every full-time admit plus a small set of competitive higher-tier programs (Lovell Presidential, Burke Scholars) gated by separate application.
Verified May 20268 days ago· CA-1
Merit tiers42 automatic on stats
Last verifiedMay 2026Analyst CA-1
Rules that bite at Marquette
The trip wires we'd flag in a custom playbook. Each is derived from Marquette's own published policy, not generic advice.
renewalPère Marquette Award: renewal floor that quietly knocks awards out
Renewable each semester of a four-year (eight-semester) program as long as the recipient remains full-time and in good academic standing within their college. A single rough term can end a four-year award here without warning if the GPA floor isn't met cumulatively.
capHard $79,050 cost-of-attendance ceiling
Institutional aid at Marquette cannot push the package past $79,050. Big outside wins can mathematically reduce institutional grant once the ceiling is reached.
Common merit-aid mistakes at Marquette
Marquette explicitly cuts merit when tuition-specific awards exceed total tuition or when all combined awards exceed cost of attendance. Families with a near-full-ride Marquette package who win a $10,000 outside award may see institutional merit reduced rather than getting a $10,000 refund.
Marquette's full-ride award requires that students be admitted first and then submit a separate application by February 1. Regular-decision applicants who wait for their admit letter before researching scholarships often miss this window entirely.
Marquette delivers Père Marquette dollar amounts through an applicant-specific scholarship estimator rather than a published stat-banded ladder like Alabama or Ole Miss. Families cannot reverse-engineer what raising an ACT one point will produce.
Michael R. Lovell Presidential Scholarship — Marquette's full-ride award
Named for Marquette's late president, the Lovell Presidential Scholarship is the top of Marquette's merit ladder — a full ride covering tuition, fees, housing, and food. Marquette grants only up to four per entering class. Applicants must already be admitted to Marquette before they can apply, and the program looks for a preferred minimum 3.8 GPA combined with demonstrated leadership and community-service commitment. The deadline is February 1, well before most regular-decision admit packages arrive, so families need to plan for an early write-up if a Marquette full-ride is part of the school list.
Catholic and non-Catholic students looking for a mid-sized Midwest Jesuit university where the headline merit award is automatic at admission but the full-ride packages and Honors-style scholar programs require a second application by February 1.
Tuition / cost of attendance: Approximately $79,050 for 2026-2027. Dependent first-year student with university housing. Tuition $53,890; living expenses $17,480; course materials $720; student fees $1,200; personal $2,950; plus transportation. Marquette does not publish a separate out-of-state surcharge — tuition is the same for all students. 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.
Tier-based scholarship; amount not publicly listed (Marquette directs families to a scholarship estimator).
Père Marquette Award
AutomaticRenewable
View requirements+
Eligibility
All full-time first-year applicants are automatically considered. Varsity student-athletes and second-bachelor's degree earners are not eligible. Specific dollar tiers are delivered through Marquette's scholarship estimator rather than published as a stat-banded ladder.
Renewal terms
Renewable each semester of a four-year (eight-semester) program as long as the recipient remains full-time and in good academic standing within their college.
Award amount not publicly listed on the overview page; Marquette is a participating National Merit institution.
National Merit Scholarship
AutomaticRenewable
View requirements+
Eligibility
Awarded automatically to National Merit Finalists who name Marquette as their first-choice institution with the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Outside scholarships first stack against unmet need. They begin displacing institutional aid once the total either exceeds tuition (for tuition-restricted awards) or exceeds total cost of attendance (for the full package). Marquette is explicit that merit awards can be cut when the combination tops these caps.
Marquette's published outside-scholarship policy has two displacement triggers. First, need-based aid may be reduced when need-based aid plus outside scholarships exceed financial need. Second, merit awards may be reduced when tuition-specific awards exceed total tuition, or when all awards combined (including outside scholarships) exceed the full cost of attendance. Outside scholarships must be reported to the Office of Student Financial Aid.
Named awards that don’t always surface on the main financial aid page. Each one has its own eligibility rules.
AmountState-administered award; amount and cutoff set by Wisconsin Higher Educational Aids Board.EligibilityWisconsin residents who earn the Academic Excellence Higher Education Scholarship from their Wisconsin high school. Marquette honors the state award when applied.
AmountAwarded by local Marquette alumni clubs; amounts vary by club and year.EligibilityOpen to students from regions served by an active alumni club; check the alumni-clubs directory for participating chapters.
Do I have to apply separately for Marquette's main merit scholarship?
No. The Père Marquette Award is automatic — Marquette states that 'All full-time applicants to Marquette are considered for the Père Marquette Award program.' Only the higher-tier competitive awards (Lovell Presidential, Burke Scholars, Honors program scholars) require a separate application after admission.
What's the deadline for the Lovell Presidential Scholarship?
February 1. The Lovell is Marquette's only full-ride merit award — covering tuition, fees, housing, and food — with up to four available per entering class. Students must be admitted to Marquette before they can apply, and the program looks for a 3.8 GPA minimum and demonstrated community service.
Will an outside scholarship reduce my Marquette merit?
It can. Marquette's policy states that merit awards may be reduced when 'tuition-specific awards exceed the total cost of tuition' or when 'all awards (including the outside scholarships) exceed the total cost of attendance.' Below those caps the outside scholarship stacks.
Is the Père Marquette Award renewable for four years?
Yes. Marquette states the award 'is renewable each semester of a recipient's four-year (eight-semester) undergraduate program, provided the recipient remains full time in good academic standing with their respective college.' Varsity athletes and second-bachelor's students are not eligible.
How much will it actually cost to go to Marquette?
For 2026-27, Marquette publishes tuition of $53,890 and a residential dependent-student cost of attendance of $79,050 (tuition + living + course materials + fees + personal + transportation). Marquette is a private institution and does not charge an out-of-state premium.
How Marquette compares across our verified dataset
43 of 150 verified schools in our dataset use cost-of-attendance cap displacement.
Marquette is in a recognizable cluster (43 schools share this category). That framing matters when comparing peer schools that may publish the policy differently or not at all.
133 of 150 verified schools publish at least one four-year renewable merit award.
Marquette is one of them. The cohort minority (17 schools) only awards one-year scholarships, which means the four-year value families assume on a brochure quote isn't guaranteed at every school.
50 of 150 verified schools publish a dedicated National Merit Finalist package.
Marquette is one of them. NMF packages typically carry their own stacking and renewal carve-outs separate from the standard automatic merit ladder; confirm those before assuming the headline NMF value is final.
Sources used on this page
Every claim is checked against Marquette’s own published materials. Below is the full reference set.
