Question about financial aid for law school

[Anonymous]

Apply everywhere, but if his scores are high, make sure and apply to schools in the t-10 to t-20 range. Those schools are focused on moving up in the rankings and do give merit aid to attract high stats applicants. I’ve even seen students “negotiate” better financial aid between two schools in that range.

[Anonymous]

Are there certain commitments or choices a person can make to get funding or work X years in certain communities?

[Anonymous]

My DS attended med school. I had to initially submit my financials for HIM to acquire his loans although they are all in his name and I did not have to co-sign. The biggest problem with graduate school loans is that they acquire interest immediately.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He'll likely have a 3.8 and 170 LSAT. Is that enough for merit aid?

Does your son have an actual SAT score ? Or is this just a guess ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're an older couple who have saved diligently and worked past many people's target retirement age in order to pay for our children's college.

Our youngest child is leaving for college in 2 years just as my husband turns 71.

Our oldest will graduate college and after a gap year wants to attend law school. We've told him that he'll have to pay for any grad school himself through loans. He'll have a pretty small income in his gap year, and will be applying as an independent but fairly broke 23 year old young man.

Is it true that our assets and income would be factored into the older one's application for need-based financial aid to law school?

That's what it looks like from my looking over the admissions pages of his law school wish list. Which seems pretty unfair. Even though we'll have a lifetime of savings stored up to get us through retirement, 4% of our net worth isn't going to afford us a lavish retirement. We can't dilute it to pay for another round of expensive education. And would rather not sell our home.

Thanks for advice!

Do NOT pay for law school with loans !!! This could haunt him for decades after finishing law school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He should consider moving somewhere with an instate option he’d be happy with and using that gap year to establish residency or consider taking two gap years if that will establish residency (takes that long in some states).

You cannot claim him as a dependent in any way on your tax return (even for the other dependent credit) and he will need to file his own separate return.

I was able to establish residency in VA after one year and get in state tuition for law school.

If I recall correctly, tuition for U Virginia law (just like U Michigan) is nearly identical for residents & non-residents.

Check out residency requirements for full-time students in each state as they differ state-by-state.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC did qualify for a law school scholarship (and loans covered the remainder). There was a place for DC to note that they were 100% responsible for their expenses.

We only had to provide our data for the first year. DC's scholarship is not going to change over the 3 years, unlike the loans which must be applied for annually.

This varies from law school to law school; some law schools have stipulations attached to scholarships which must be met in order to retain the scholarship in subsequent years.

[Anonymous]

Law school need based aid is intended only for students coming from real poverty. Merit aid is available if you are willing to go to a lower ranked school.

I was in my 30s and had been married for several years when I went to law school. They still wanted my parents' financial information on order for me to apply for loans. It was beyond ridiculous and my parents didn't want to give me their private information, and I can't blame them. Parent info shouldn't be required if you aren't seeking need based aid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Law school need based aid is intended only for students coming from real poverty. Merit aid is available if you are willing to go to a lower ranked school.

I was in my 30s and had been married for several years when I went to law school. They still wanted my parents' financial information on order for me to apply for loans. It was beyond ridiculous and my parents didn't want to give me their private information, and I can't blame them. Parent info shouldn't be required if you aren't seeking need based aid.

Not true to the best of my knowledge.

The most elite law schools (Harvard, Yale, & Stanford) offer only need-based aid for which many students qualify & receive.

OP: You need to research which law schools offer need-based aid as I believe that it is not common.

[Anonymous]

As someone mentioned before, if his stats are high enough, there will be the potential for generous merit aid at schools in the T25-45 range.

While I got into a T14, there was no offer of merit aid.

I ended up going to a T30 on a full tuition merit scholarship. Another school in that same range offered a partial tuition scholarship, and indicated that if I was considering another school, they would potentially up the offer if I committed to them.

I weighed the increased cost/need for loans and going to a T14 (on the lower end of the T14 range) with a less prestigious school and no loans, but that is obviously a personal decision for him to make. I personally was happy with the decision I made.

[Anonymous]

I went to a T14 on a partial scholarship. I was on my own since age 16 (and had the paperwork to prove it) and married. They still wanted my single mother's financial information. I suppose it helped that there was nothing to be had from her. I still had to take out loans to cover about half of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don't remember parental income being considered at all when I applied back in the late 90s. Am I remembering this incorrectly? My parents did not pay any of the tuition.

When I went in the 90s my parents' income was considered - I didn't get financial aid. I did get offered merit scholarships at some great T20 schools and like a total idiot decided to take out full loans to go to Columbia instead. My parents didn't pay any of my law school loans; they had covered college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't remember parental income being considered at all when I applied back in the late 90s. Am I remembering this incorrectly? My parents did not pay any of the tuition.

When I went in the 90s my parents' income was considered - I didn't get financial aid. I did get offered merit scholarships at some great T20 schools and like a total idiot decided to take out full loans to go to Columbia instead. My parents didn't pay any of my law school loans; they had covered college.

How long did it take you to repay your student loans ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't remember parental income being considered at all when I applied back in the late 90s. Am I remembering this incorrectly? My parents did not pay any of the tuition.

When I went in the 90s my parents' income was considered - I didn't get financial aid. I did get offered merit scholarships at some great T20 schools and like a total idiot decided to take out full loans to go to Columbia instead. My parents didn't pay any of my law school loans; they had covered college.

How long did it take you to repay your student loans ?

20 years but that's because I pursued a very unusual and extremely poorly paid career path. If I'd done the normal Columbia thing it'd only have been 4 or 5 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Law school need based aid is intended only for students coming from real poverty. Merit aid is available if you are willing to go to a lower ranked school.

I was in my 30s and had been married for several years when I went to law school. They still wanted my parents' financial information on order for me to apply for loans. It was beyond ridiculous and my parents didn't want to give me their private information, and I can't blame them. Parent info shouldn't be required if you aren't seeking need based aid.

Not true to the best of my knowledge.

The most elite law schools (Harvard, Yale, & Stanford) offer only need-based aid for which many students qualify & receive.

OP: You need to research which law schools offer need-based aid as I believe that it is not common.

I wrote the above post.

OP: There are two types of need-based financial aid: loans and grants. Grants do not require repayment. To the best of my knowledge, very few law schools offer need-based grant aid, while all law schools offer need based loans.