<p>I've been looking into NYU Law and I've heard it has some outstanding financial aid programs; am I mistaken?</p>
<p>good question...i'd like to know too</p>
<p>i know it offers several (extremely competitive) merit and public interest scholarships, and has a good loan repayment assistance program for people who go into public interest careers. i can't compare its need-based aid to that of peer schools, but it's probably no worse than other members of the t14.</p>
<p>it's important to remember that most students will be taking out loans to cover nearly all of the cost of law school. and with the cost of living as high as it is in NY, you may find yourself taking out more loans just for rent, food, transportation, etc.</p>
<p>NYU also offers a scholarship for those who intend to enter legal academia. Of course, if you are interested in that track, you would be remiss in not trying for Harvard, Yale, or Stanford, given that their placement is significantly better than NYU's.</p>
<p>Perhaps you all forget that NYU Law is ranked among the T5 in the country.</p>
<p>NYU has several merit scholarships and public interest scholarships. The "word" is it does NOT give very good financial aid. (And before you jump all over me again for saying "the word"--I mean the scuttlebutt among my kid's friends, who have been through this process.) </p>
<p>A h.s. classmate of my kid's got $10,000 more a year in need based financial aid from UChicago than from NYU. NYU refused to match. Just one story...but...it's consistent with its rep. It's that same way for UG. Gives merit $--free ride to Intel top 40 for example--but financial aid--i.e. aid based not on your stats, but on NEED, is not all that great.</p>
<p>There are STRINGS attached to the merit $. For example, if you take the Root-Tilden-Kern and quit public interest and go into the private world any time within 10 years after graduation, you have to pay for those years. Again, don't rely on me for the details. Just make sure you know all the rules.</p>
<p>To have a shot at the Furman--the academic one--you have to have the type of record that will get you into YHS. The $ is designed to get folks to pass on going to YHS and take the $. </p>
<p>BTW, last time I heard, you couldn't defer any of them.</p>
<p>If the FA at the law school (with the exception of the specific scholarships) is similar to FA at the other grad programs (current 2nd time grad student at NYU) and at the undergrad school at NYU, need based FA is few and far between. </p>
<p>They will give you a couple of $$, but they will also give you the maximum amount of loan aid possible (you know it is bad when student who work for NYU and suppose to get tuition remission have to take out loans because they can't afford the taxes).</p>
<p>Do not expect need-based aid to be anything like undergrad. My son received $34000 per year need-based grant aid as an undergrad (at a top LAC), $0 need-based grant aid from NYU Law. He has taken out $62-63K in loans to pay for his first year.</p>
<p>Generally, all of the top law schools offer merit aid to a handful of students, offer public interest scholarships/public interest loan forgiveness programs based upon very specific criteria that are tougher to live up to than you would think and otherwise offer very scanty need based financial aid. </p>
<p>With respect to need based financial aid, most of the top law schools will first offer a student up to the maximum amount of federal Stafford loans. For graduate school (including law school) that maximum is $18,500 per year of which up to $8,500 per year may be given (and usually is given) as a subsidized loan. The subsidized portion of a Stafford loan requires no payment of interest while the student is in school. The unsubsidized portion of a Stafford loan does accrue interest while the student is in school, though that interest is typically capitalized and added into the principal of the loan at graduation for payment after graduation. There is a lifetime maximum of $138,500 of Stafford loans available, which includes any and all Stafford loans taken out during undergrad. Boyond the annual $18,500 Stafford loan, a top law school often gives a student a mixture of grants (usually small) and the opportunity to take out additional loans from private lenders (who often require parents to act as guarantors on those loans). </p>
<p>The good news (if there is a silver lining in this tale of woefully large student loans) is that a student's repayment obligations on these student loans does not begin until 6 months after that student's date of graduation. At least you won't have to make payments while you are studying for the bar exam! That's why you really have to get those great grades during first year of law school to get the great internship with a law firm during the summer after second year of law school so that you can get the job offer for a position with a starting date shortly after you take the bar exam and before those loan payments need to be made. Whew - that was a long sentence! </p>
<p>At the end of the day, don't count on any need based financial aid other than student loans in law school. If you can get one of the few merit scholarships available at a top law school (among all of your very qualified and very bright classmates), more power to you. If you manage to have your loans forgiven over time after graduation, again, excellent for you. For the rest of us, plan to be paying off very large student loans for a very long time after graduation (unless you can convince someone else to pay your law school tuition bill).</p>
<p>Some law schools do give need-based aid, but usually include parental income and assets in determining eligibility. For those interested in NEED BASED aid, the first place to look is <a href="http://www.needaccess.org%5B/url%5D">www.needaccess.org</a>. There is a list of participating schools, including law schools. It's not that big a list, but those on it do give need based financial aid.</p>
<p>Anyone interested in New York Law school? Where does it stand in rankings? Judge Judy went there, graduated top of class. She was smart: go to a less insanely crazed law school, and graduate at the top. You'll get more beef.</p>
<p>So your meaning to tell me that a person who graduates at, let's say Brooklyn Law at the top of his class is more likely to get a job at Cravath than an "average" Yale graduate? Does anyone agree with that poster's reasoning?</p>
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Judge Judy went there, graduated top of class. She was smart: go to a less insanely crazed law school, and graduate at the top. You'll get more beef.
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<p>Actually... the lower ranked law schools are probably more "insanely crazed" than top 14 schools. At least at a place like Harvard, you know you are pretty safe pretty much whatever your rank is. At Yale, rank and GPA are not even determined!</p>
<p>It seems like the way a school is run, from pressures to be on Law Review to the way classes are conducted, is much more important than mere similarity in rankings. I'm not sure how applicable a book like One L is to today's HLS, but I cannot imagine more "insanely crazed."</p>
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It seems like the way a school is run, from pressures to be on Law Review to the way classes are conducted, is much more important than mere similarity in rankings. I'm not sure how applicable a book like One L is to today's HLS, but I cannot imagine more "insanely crazed."
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<p>I thought the same way; however, after reading accounts to the contrary, I am quite confident that the worries occupying HYS students are much more different than the worries of students who attend a -T14 institution; whereas the former students are looking for prestigious positions for even more prestigious law positions, the latter are still looking for jobs. Something tells me the fight for bare necessities is more "insanely crazed," though I must admittedly defer to Sallyawp's and ariesathena's experiences for more explanatory power.</p>
<p>Actually, everything that I've ever heard confirms nspeds' belief that it is much more competitive (I've often heard the words "cut throat" used to describe the atmosphere) at lower tiered law schools. In the NYC area, the very top graduates (I'm talking about the top one or two students) of Fordham Law, Brooklyn Law and NY Law School (Cardozo) do have a shot at jobs at the most competitive law firms. Unfortunately, when so few get the opportunity for these plum jobs, students tend to climb all over each other to get those opportunities.</p>