Law School Financial Aid and How It Works

Law school tuition is not cheap, and debt can easily accumulate to hundreds of thousands of dollars. Fortunately, however, most law students do not pay full tuition. Various financial aid programs facilitate loans or grants that can provide students with a significant discount on tuition, sometimes even covering costs completely.

In order to secure this funding, it’s important to understand the different forms of law school financial aid programs and how they work.

Merit-Based Financial Aid for Law School

Over the last couple decades, law schools have increasingly offered financial aid programs as incentives to entice applicants with impressive profiles, including high GPAs and LSAT scores. Not only does accepting such students bolster schools’ reputation and alumni network, it boosts their rankings.

If you have strong numbers or other factors that make you a desirable candidate, law schools may compete for your acceptance by offering you significant savings in tuition.

Such merit-based financial aid programs are negotiable. Students can ask schools to reconsider their offer of financial aid. Most schools tend to have a formal process to make this easier, otherwise you can simply email the admissions office.

To make a strong case, it helps to have leverage. For example, a higher offer from a school with a similar reputation or within the same geographic area may help communicate your value as a future student. It may also help to give a reason why you are under financial pressure, and to show commitment to attending the school. Of course, you should avoid making unreasonable requests for reconsideration and only negotiate if you are really interested in the program.

Need-Based Financial Aid for Law School

Most law schools offer need-based financial aid in the form of loans or grants that enable students who lack access to financial resources to afford the costs of higher education. Different law schools have different criteria for weighing applicants based on their financial circumstances and might require some proof of financial hardship.

Even though these scholarships are available at most leading law schools in the United States, need-based programs offered at law schools are not as robust as those offered at the collegiate level. This is because law graduates specifically are presumed to have high future earning potential. Most law schools award more money in merit-based aid than need-based aid. Some schools, however, like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, award need-based aid only.

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Other Sources of Law School Funding

Besides merit- and need-based financial aid, law schools have several funding sources for applicants that fulfill certain requirements. These might include public service scholarships, programs for specific communities like Native Americans or first-generation students, and more. Admissions offices will notify eligible applicants of such funding sources, although it may be worth inquiring directly or asking to speak with a representative from the financial aid office.

If you plan to work in the public sector after graduation, there may be additional financial resources available to you. The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) program is a government program that forgives the remaining balance on a lawyer’s student loans so long as they work in applicable public sector jobs and make a minimum of ten years of payments. Some law schools offer their own loan repayment plans as an incentive for alumni to work in the public sector.

More information about loans, grants, and other options for financing law school can be found on the Law School Admissions Council’s website.

Cost is an inescapable consideration when choose what law school to attend. Since financial aid programs are uncertain, you should consider applying to a vast range of law schools to improve your chances of securing an acceptance offer with funding that meets your needs.

What to Know About Conditional Scholarships

Lastly, it’s worth discussing a controversial form of financial aid, conditional scholarships, which offer a certain amount of financial aid contingent on maintaining a certain GPA threshold during your time in law school.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with a conditional scholarship, and many seem to have terms that are easy to meet, like receiving no grade below a B- or performing above average in the class. However, a lot of programs with less-than-savory reputations have been caught using conditional scholarships as a way to bait in applicants who are extra prone to violating their terms, or even manipulating their grading systems to make compliance more difficult. This can be risky, as failing to meet the conditions can put an applicant on the hook for paying the full sticker price or else dropping out. 

As conditional scholarships have attracted more scrutiny, law schools have become obligated to report data about their usage. As you can see from this Law School Transparency page, law schools have moved away from conditional scholarships over the last decade. Schools offering conditional scholarships are required to publish ABA 509 forms about conditional scholarship retention. See examples of these forms published by Elon University and Baylor University. 

Before you accept a conditional aid offer, scrutinize it carefully and make sure you understand the terms. Do your research, read the data, and think carefully and candidly about your likelihood of meeting the requirements or else losing your scholarship. 

Don’t be afraid to push back and negotiate a conditional offer. Ask for more money or different terms. As long as you act professionally and respectfully, it can’t hurt to assert your interests. Being an effective lawyer begins with effective self-advocacy, and there’s no better practice than during your application journey. 

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