Law School Merit Scholarships
The Law School awards merit-based scholarships to many entering students each year. All applicants offered admission to the Law School are automatically considered for merit scholarship awards as long as funds remain available; there is no separate scholarship application to submit. Scholarship awarding begins in February each year. If an admitted applicant is awarded a scholarship they will be contacted directly by the Admissions Committee. Generally, a potential merit scholarship award is not decided at the time an offer of admission is made, but would be decided before the admitted student is asked to pay a tuition deposit. Most Marquette law students, including those who receive scholarships, rely upon a combination of loan programs to finance their educations and to pay for living expenses while in Law School; consequently, timely submission of the FAFSA is crucial for entering law students.
In typical recent years, more than two-thirds of enrolling first-year students have been awarded merit scholarships of varying amounts. Merit scholarship awards vary in amount from about $2000 per year up to full tuition. Scholarships will be applied to tuition only; they may not be applied to other expenses. In most recent years, the median scholarship award – for those students receiving awards – has been in the $20,000 to $22,000 per year range. Scholarships are awarded on the basis of merit (that is, based upon a review of the application for admission) as judged by the Admissions Committee, and not on the basis of need. Need-based financial aid is provided to law students in the form of loans. The Law School has developed a Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) to assist graduates who choose careers in the public sector, where starting salaries are usually lower than those in the private sector. More information on the Law School's LRAP may be found on this website.
Marquette Law School does not offer "conditional scholarships" as that term is defined in Interpretation 509-3 of Standard 509 of the ABA Standards for Approval of Law Schools. More specifically, the retention of a scholarship awarded to a student who matriculates at Marquette Law School is not conditioned upon the student's maintaining a minimum grade point average or class standing, other than that ordinarily required to remain in good academic standing. A 2.000 cumulative grade point average is required to remain in good academic standing.
In recent years, high-performing students at the conclusion of the first year (e.g., those in the top ten to fifteen percent of the class) have received scholarship awards of a few thousand dollars. The Law School expects to continue that policy for the foreseeable future. Again, scholarships must be applied to tuition.