<p>Does anyone know how many merit scholarships Marquette gives out and what a typical award is?</p>
<p>Our family will likely not qualify for any need-based aid, but it will still hurt to write a check out for 100% of tuition, fees, room and board (especially since her college fund hasn't fully recovered from the recent stock market drama).</p>
<p>Marquette is my daughter's first choice. This weekend, she was offered a $15,000 per year Provost Scholarship (total $60,000) to St. Louis University. She was almost disappointed at the news, because Marquette does not have a reputation for being particularly generous with merit aid, and this changes the game for us.</p>
<p>Does Marquette give out many 5-figure scholarships (Marquette's base tuition is less, so that helps out some). Do they ever try to match the merit aid offered by another school (especially a direct rival) in order to land a high-caliber student?</p>
<p>If this helps, mydaughter has a 4.1 (out of 4) GPA, got a 31 on her ACT, and is in the top 8% of her class. She wants to enter the Nursing program.</p>
<p>According to Marquette’s 2008-09 Common data Set, 409 of the first-year class of 1950 had no financial need but were awarded grants or scholarships averaging $9227. So, if a student has no need, he or she has about a 20% chance of getting a merit scholarship (your daughter’s stats probably make a merit scholarship more likely–try to compare her stats to the average for an incoming class).</p>
<p>“Many” five-figure scholarships? With an average merit scholarship of $9227, there are probably a couple hundred “five-figure” scholarships awarded to students in each freshman class. My knowledge is strictly based on the 2008-09 common data set–I have no idea whether they would match aid offered by another school. They do seem to be direct rivals, so I suppose it can’t hurt to ask.</p>
<p>Stacey, there are a couple threads here discussing this at some length, but my understanding is that your daughter, based on her stats, should max out the Ignatius at 10k. The Magis is an award ON TOP of Ignatius (not a separate scholarship) which is for LEADERSHIP and can get her another couple thousand if she’s exhibited that. She need not apply for either of these separate from her admissions app.</p>
<p>I have read from several posters that SLU gives larger awards but the net tuition (since MU has lower sticker price) tends to be remarkably similar.</p>
<p>Just met a mom whose daughter started out at another Catholic university with partial scholarships, and they began her college career paying 27K a year. As she is now a senior, they are paying 35K a year. For those who would have to take out loans to meet that difference, just mindblowing what kind of debt you can rack up after four years in college.</p>
<p>Well, Montegut, that is the case. The merit scholarships that are given automatically to freshman rarely cover more than about a third of total COA. And they do not increase along with tuition.
For those of us who knew we wouldn’t qualify for need-based, it just made things that much more affordable – that, and the fact that MU has lower tuition to begin with than many other private schools that are now over 34,000 or 35,000 for tuition alone.</p>
<p>I was going to add, though, that the top amount for the Ignatius does go up a little every year. I would be surprised if it was only 10,000 this year – hoping for 11,000 or 12,000!
I remember when my older girl was comparing the merit from Marquette and SLU, it WAS a wash, considering that SLU’s tuition is just that much higher. So wait and see, Stacey!</p>
<p>Montegut, I just deleted a lengthy, sympathetic but totally thread-hijacking reply to your comment. Suffice it to say, the economics of higher education are totally upside down and a generation of young people will be crushed under the resulting debt load. It’s very sad.</p>
<p>Question, though. Does anyone know what sort of “leadership” results in Magis awards? My son is an Eagle Scout and has done a nominal amount of community service but isn’t the president or founder of any organizations. I’m hoping Eagle Scout can get him a few bucks???</p>
<p>Beastman, congratulations on your son achieving Eagle Scout. That is such an accomplishment! You must be very proud!</p>
<p>As for the young generation having debt, with the current economy, even health care jobs are not hiring. Just met a mom whose daughter is graduating from ultrasound school. While newspaper classifieds used to be fall of hirings for such positions, many local hospitals are having hiring freezes. Although many are willing to incur large debt as they figure they are guaranteed high paying jobs after college, wonder if that is still the case. Probably no such thing as a safe major any more.</p>
<p>There is always nursing! I just read an article in a nursing journal about the HUGE numbers of nurses who will be needed in the coming years to both replace the retiring baby boomer nurses and care for the baby boomers.
However, I see way too many new nurses who really don’t have the passion to care for patients as nursing isn’t an easy job.
As far as the Magis, in talking to my son and his friends, it seems to be given for moderate service and leadership. Your son sounds like he would qualify.</p>
<p>Thanks, keymom for your reply. I really need 11k from MU or it could be dicey. 8k would make it pretty gruesome.</p>
<p>As for majors and resulting career options, my position is to scrap the notion of a truly safe major but to stack the deck as best one can. One absolute must, IMO, is internships or co-ops. I do think it’s naive to think a student can graduate, even in health care, and walk into a job having spent their previous four years exclusively in classrooms. In fact, I’m inclined to have my son (who graduates in May) work this summer even as a volunteer in hopes of having something on his resume in preparation for seeking a co-op job at Marquette! Every thimbleful of experience sets you above another layer of competition for these jobs. I think that’s the new reality.</p>
<p>I think that keymom is right about the overall growth prospects of health care. There’s just a whole bunch of boomers getting older and our national obesity rate will create lots of care issues for them. And fortunately for our kids, the current recession should be long over by the time they finish!</p>
<p>I have a daughter who is a sophomore this year at MU. Her scholarships (merit) should shave off about $60,000 from her education. It sounds alot better when you talk about it from a four-year standpoint…$15,000 per year vs. $60,000 total. lol</p>
<p>She did not come out for the scholarship competitions because quite frankly MU was not her first choice. I wish she had. She did, quite reluctantly, apply for the Pere Marquette scholarship as we qualified geographically, and she did receive it. It helps tremendously. </p>
<p>Another thing to consider is trying to become an RA after your freshman year. My daughter has free room and board which I figure is between $8-10k. She did not qualify for financial aid other than a small work-study, so this job on campus is need blind. It REALLY helps.</p>
<p>MTJ, that’s a great suggestion (RA). It would otherwise be difficult, I would think, to make that much during the school year without a serious disruption in studies.</p>
<p>Or IS it a disruption? Can you provide a summary on the RA gig? Is it a tough job to get? Is it tough to DO? Time consuming?</p>
<p>You might also want to check with the MU Alumni club in your area. Some offer scholarship competitions for $1K-1.5K per year depending on the group.</p>
<p>My daughter said it was difficult to get an RA position. They had interview process as well as a lot of group interaction sessions that were observed…how they handled different situations and interacting with others. She was very surprised, and pleased she was offerred the position. </p>
<p>She has said it is alot to handle. She has a fair number of training sessions. They ask her to organize a number of events for her floor which takes up a lot of time and energy and sometimes is not well received. She has a floor of sophomore girls. She also has to be on campus early from Christmas break and has to wait until the dorms close to leave. It can create a bit of hassle to try to transport her back home…but I think it is a really well paying job and the inconveniences of it are just par for the territory. I haven’t seen her since the beginning of school so we have a lot of things to discuss, the RA position being one of them. I would like her to continue if possible, another year. I think she would rather not continue. After we have a face-to-face discussion instead of the snippets I get over her cell phone, I can offer up some additional insight. </p>
<p>My daughter loves Marquette. She is doing well and finds Milwaukee to be a nice city to go to school in. We have family in Chicago, so taking the train for long weekends/breaks is easy to do as we live in Colorado and getting back home can be cost prohibitive. I have another daughter who has applied to MU and is looking to apply to the Honors Program. Going thru the college application thing is quite a treat! :-O</p>
<p>Mt, if you don’t mind my asking, what was your daughter’s total award before her RA job? You said she got the Pere Marquette. What was that amount? Did that add on top of any other schollies she got, or did they reduce the amount of her original offer when she got the Pere Marquette?</p>
<p>Montegut…She was awarded Ignatius plus Magis at 10K a year, Pere Marquette is an additional 5K per year. They are added to eachother. The Pere Marquette is geographically restricted. </p>
<p>Those plus the RA position REALLY were a blessing this year.</p>
<p>brutus0310…She was one of 10 students directly admitted to a particular “school” within the University of Colorado and she still chose MU. There were a number of reasons, one of them being with the scholarships offerred from MU, they were similarly priced. CU seemed much larger and overwhelming to her, also housing is only guaranteed there freshman year. Having family in Chicago gave her the opportunity to “be away” yet not too far away (from family). Chicago/Milwaukee is a much more fun place to be, in her eyes, than Boulder/Denver. And there was some perception, which I find in my second child, that going to school in state is lame.</p>
<p>Again, sorry to pry. So her total for Ignatius and Magis was 10K, then add 5K for Pere Marquette, and she tops outs at 15K? </p>
<p>In that case, the RA job was truly a great thing. You said this includes meal plan as well?</p>
<p>I agree with you on the size and housing. These are major considerations for son. He does not want a big state school, and we all are in agreement that he should live on campus all four years. Although some state schools do offer an honors program to make a big college seem smaller, we are being very careful to not overwhelm son with a rigorous honors program since his major, biomedical engineering, is going to be rigorous enough. </p>
<p>Thanks again for your candidness. It’s always good to hear someone’s real life experience.</p>