Financial Aid/Scholarships

Graduate School Law School
1

<p>Given the poor state of the legal field, taking on a huge loan burden for a JD seems like a crazy choice. I have been told by advisers (and seen repeated on this forum) that you shouldn't bother unless you can attend a top program, that it is a poor choice unless you want to practice law, and that the weight of student loans is so crushing as to make most jobs unrealistic for debt repayment.</p>

<p>That said, I want to learn more about financial aid and merit scholarships. Though many law school websites discuss financial aid, it seems to be mostly in the context of student loans. A much smaller number seem to offer merit scholarships. I've also read several disconcerting (though scarcely surprising) articles about the unscrupulous tendency of law schools to offer scholarships that are contingent on maintaining a certain GPA--and then students lose them through the curved grading system.</p>

<p>-Which schools are known for generous scholarship or non-loan financial aid?
-What factors are most important not simply for admission, but to be awarded aid?</p>

<p>I am considering applying to law school for fall 2013, but I would not do it without substantial scholarship funding. Having paid off my undergraduate loans in full, I have no desire to go into debt, particularly since I have no inclination to go into "Big Law". I haven't taken the LSAT yet (not even a practice), but I graduated with a 3.85.</p>

<p>I'd appreciate any information that folks may have to share. Thanks!</p>

2

<p>Okay…</p>

<p>First, unless you are over age 27-30 (it varies by the school),as far as I know, parental income is factored into need based aid at all the law schools which give it. (Not all do.) Take a look at [url=&lt;a href=“http://www.needacess.org%5Dneedacess.org%5B/url”&gt;http://www.needacess.org]needacess.org[/url</a>]. It is my understanding that most schools which give true need based aid use it.(It doesn’t mean that all the law schools on the list give it.) </p>

<p>Second, as for merit $, if you aren’t a URM, most of it is awarded to people who have both LSAT and GPA above the 75th percentile for that law school. However, there are definitely a few law schools where it’s all about the LSAT. Amounts vary. There are also some which factor in what you plan to do post law school. NYU, for example, gives one for future academics called the Furman. NYU and a number of other law schools give them to people going into public service. (Most provide that you have to repay the $ with interest if you don’t do that. Some have sliding scales. In other words, if you go into public service for 5 years and then into private practice, your loan payments might be forgiven for the first 5 years, but you’d have to pay for the next 5. This is just an example—details vary. )</p>

<p>If you think you might want to do something less lucrative, some law schools have loan forgiveness programs. These too vary. The general idea is that you pay back the $ on a sliding scale. If you don’t earn much, you pay less. (Note that judicial clerkships almost never qualify.) Some take spousal earnings and/or assets into account in setting the amount you have to repay. </p>

<p>As a general rule–there may be exceptions—top PRIVATE law schools have better loan forgiveness programs than public Us. </p>

<p>In other words, it’s complicated. </p>

<p>If you are really sure you want to go the public interest route, I personally think the loan forgiveness programs are the best bet. Note though that a lawyer with a federal government agency would earn a lot less than a BIGLAW lawyer, but not enough to be eligible for loan forgiveness. (Although at least some federal agencies will pay a small amount towards the loan principal. )“Low income” for purposes of paying off law school loans doesn’t mean “income less than BIGLAW.” </p>

<p>Unless you have cash on hand or your parents or someone else will foot the bill for you, IME, it’s virtually impossible to go to law school without incurring ANY debt. Even with a “free ride”—it’s usually just tuition and you’ve still go to pay living expenses.</p>

<p>So, if you aren’t willing to go into ANY debt, I think you should forget going to law school or wait until you’ve accumulated enough capital to pay for a substantial portion of law school and you’re old enough that your parents’ income and assets won’t be considered.</p>

3

<p>Many people find that they end up with a choice of a higher ranked school, paying full price or close to it, and lower ranked schools with money offsetting all or most of the tuition.</p>

4

<p>I know law schools offer $$ to improve their rankings too. Tough decision- D accepted to Fordham with $30k/yr and Cardozo with full- but also accepted to NYU and Georgetown (no $ offers as of yet, and suspect not coming. Planning on Intl Law with Slavic specialty.</p>

5

<p>Congrats to your D, dufay. My S would choose NYU or Georgetown without money in a heartbeat.</p>

6

<p>Thanks- given her goals (specialist in Russian “law” such as it is), it will probably be NYU. However, the financial differences are mind boggling.</p>

7

<p>It is always difficult to give up money. My son and daughter both gave up full rides or near full rides undergraduate. They were lucky to have that option. However, my D did have to give up attending her first choice school because we just couldn’t swing the tuition. We kept saying that it was more important to pay for grad school. So, now we wait to see where my S gets accepted.</p>

8

<p>Dufay My D was accepted to NYU and Georgetown too. The money thing is very scary. She was told by a recruiter for a NY law firm that she would be better off going to NYU than a lower ranked school even with no $$ because she would have a much better chance of paying back loans with the job she would get out of NYU. Easy for him to say!</p>

9

<p>That’s what she is betting on- that and the Intl Law reputation. Hope it works out. Which school did your D decide upon and why?</p>

10

<p>Except for HYS, every school gives out merit scholarships. On the other hand, except at HYS, financial aid is virtually nonexistent.</p>

<p>I hope NYU’s “reputation” in international law is not a factor in anyone’s matriculation decision. That reputation will get you pretty much nowhere. Public international law jobs are more difficult to get than Biglaw.</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>If he asserted that unconditionally, he is lying. There are a number of circumstances where it makes sense to go to a lower-ranked school for a substantial scholarship over a higher-ranked school. It’s a fact-specific inquiry.</p>

11

<p>

</p>

<p>YaleAlumnus, I should have been more clear. He was talking about if the difference in offers were something like 30k-50k total, that amount in his opinion was not enough to make her choose a lower t14 school over NYU.</p>

12

<p>NewJerseyMom how goes the application process for your S?</p>

13

<p>Parentofpeople - he got them out! Thanks. Now the waiting begins.</p>

14

<p>yay! Good Luck to him.</p>

15

<p>Sounds like us! (S is applying). Not any in T14, unfortunately.</p>

16

<p>full tuition at UCLA or loans at Harvard? please help!</p>

17

<p>Where do you want to practice law?</p>

18

<p>Does your son plan on staying in CA? </p>

<p>Is the scholarship guaranteed for all 3 years or must he maintain a GPA requirement?</p>

19

<p>Is there a chance that he will get any FA at Harvard or are you guaranteed comparing full boat at Harvard to Full Tuition scholarship at UCLA?</p>

20

<p>Unfortunately, that great Harvard need based that is given to Harvard undergrads is not given at the law school level. There are no “full boats” at Harvard because everyone gets loans as the first part of their financial aid package.</p>

<ol>
<li>For federal aid purposes, all students in grad school are independent students so it is not unusual for a student going to school straight from undergrad (without having a job making an appreciable amount of money) to have a 0 EFC.</li>
</ol>

<p>However, for law and medical school, many schools still look at the income and assets of the parents when distributing need based aid.</p>

<p>The “no loans” policies that exist at the undergrad level is pretty much non-existent at the professional school level. Minimally students can borrow 20.5k in stafford loans (effective fall 2012, all stafford grad loans will be unsubsidized). Based on the student’s credit worthiness, they can borrow the entire cost of attendance over the stafford loan limits as a Grad Plus loan.</p>

<p>At Harvard Law:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Harvard also states:</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Packaging aid at Harvard</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Sample Harvard law aid package:
if student needs less than $40,300 PER YEAR</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Sample package at Harvard law for student whose demonstrated need is over $40,300</p>

<p>

</p>

<p>Additional aid may come from supplemental education loans, part-time employment and/or outside resources.</p>

<p>Total funding from all sources must not exceed the student budget of $72,600.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It looks like minimally everyone graduates with at least 120k in debt.</p>

<p>If your son is given full tuition as Boalt, again is it guaranteed for all 3 years? If yes, will your family pay the other costs (housing, books etc) or will he be borrowing?</p>