Marquette University will phase out athletic scholarships for its men's and women's track and field programs by 2025-26, the Marquette Wire reported Tuesday morning.
Per Marquette VP and director of athletics Bill Scholl, the university decision was largely a product of budget cuts due to factors including COVID-19. Scholarship offerings will also be eliminated for the Big East school's men's and women's tennis programs.
"We're in year three of a multi-year process," Scholl said to the Marquette Wire. "Unfortunately the budget realities forced us to make some moves and those are some of the moves we made."
Marquette's tennis program was informed of the decision nearly two years ago, with the track and field program notified in the past few months as "pieces were still being pieced together."
Scholarship commitments to current and incoming first-year athletes will be honored.
Still, the decision forces new realities for prospective student-athletes. While students will still have access to academic and financial aid, deputy athletic director Mike Broeker acknowledged an impact on recruiting efforts.
Scholl maintains that the decision was necessary, but not irreversible. "More important is the effort to get our budget to a situation where we feel it's sustainable in the future," Scholl told the Marquette Wire. "Clearly if economics allowed us to grow it back, adding scholarships back in would not be a hard thing to do."
The NCAA currently allows partnering Division 1 institutions to offer 18 scholarships to women and 12.6 scholarships to men.