<p>Do law schools give as much financial aid/scholarships as undergraduate colleges do?</p>
<p>hahaha, from what I read, you better have good credit because you'll mostly get loans. There are some scholarships at places like Duke, Columbia, and NYU, but I think loans will be a great part of your fin aid package. I think undergrad gives more grants than grad.</p>
<p>Law schools? Giving grants? HAHA This post is a joke right? No seriously law schools themselves give few if no grants whatsoever. There are a derth of people applying to these schools, so no incentive programs are needed to give out grants. You might be able to get a scholarship from an outside source if you are dirt poor. We are not talking Brooklyn or East St. Louis poor. More like Haiti or Central African Republic poor.</p>
<p>Joev, I know students who have received merit grants from very top law schools. I'm not sure where you're getting your information.</p>
<p>There are some merit grants, very, very few, and there are also some earmarked aid for the truly underpriviliged or for certain programs. But as a general rule, you take out loans or work and go part time. There are a number of law schools that support the pay as you go system by offering programs that make it miore amenable to do this.</p>
<p>Yeah, grants are pretty scarce. But if you land a great job after grad school it shouldn't matter too much.</p>
<p>Cool, I was just wondering, I'm still in HS.</p>
<p>Yeah, try to get as much grants as you can for undergrad. If you still want to go to law school, it should offset the loans you'll be taking out.</p>
<p>Law schools generally have very little in the line of aid. Almost all have some form of merit aid, but you should be cautious about taking a merit scholarship instead of going to a top school - I know someone who said that he will end up losing money in the long run from lost employment opportunities. I'll agree that there is merit aid available, but my advice is to not count on it at all. It is a safe assumption that you'll end up paying the lion's share of the cost, unless your parents chip in.</p>
<p>Law schools use a bunch of different ways to calculate financial need - FAFSA, Access Group, and a few others. Some will have you fill out their own forms. Many of them will ask for your parent's assests when considering need. UMich actually does a sliding scale - you have to be about 27 for them to not consider what your parents earn. I think that many schools expect you to take care of undergrad debt before arriving, so they do not consider that in calculating need. Be aware that law schools rarely fill your financial need. Aid is in the form of school loans, federal loans (both of which subsidize interest) and the remainder in private loans. </p>
<p>Some law schools have loan repayment - if you go into public interest, they will pick up some of your loans when you graduate. However, those are very, very limited. I believe that some 30% of law students graduate with more than $100k in debt. It is really not unusual for students to pay the entire cost, no aid, no help from parents. Please, please seriously consider whether you really want to be a lawyer before taking on that much debt. </p>
<p>(Can anyone tell that I'm already thousands in debt and will cross the six-figure mark in two years?)</p>
<p>wow, ariesathena, I hope you land a great job after LS to pay that off! When I graduate from Wake I'll have 40k in loans, and I presume I'll cross the line sophomore year too. Poor lawyers, all of us.</p>
<p>basically grad school is loans, loans and more loans, regardless of what program it is, but it's especially expensive for law and med school</p>