Coming straight from college to law school, I was able to be "independent" by my second year of law school. The first year, my parents had claimed me as a dependent that previous January. The following tax year (so spring of my first year) I filed my own taxes. Using that, my lease, my local phone number, local driver's license and car registration, I was able to get in state tuition. I'm not sure if those laws have changed, this was 10 years ago. I financed law school entirely, still, but the second two years were a fraction of the cost of the first year.

When my husband went to law school he had to report his parents income even though we had been married for 2 years! At the time, We had to have filed as independents for 7 years in order to leave off his parents income.

When I went to law school there was very little financial aid-- either you paid the full amount or you took out loans (there were a few scholarships/loan forgiveness for public service).

My sense is that has changed a bit with the crash in law school enrollment, so less prestigious schools are now willing to give scholarships to some applicants with better credentials, but whether that's a good idea is a whole other discussion.

DC is really interested in law school (still a few years out). How do law schools calculate the required parent contribution to tuition? If DC works after college for a couple of years, will he be considered independent and eligible for aid or more favorable loans than otherwise? What if he lives at home while he works to save money, does that negate any claim of independence? DC is attending a state university so that we can put some of our college savings toward law school, but I just discovered that even our flagship instate law school is 50k per year for tuition alone. Ouch! Just looking for details about law school financing, not opinions about whether it is worthwhile. I am a lawyer myself (parents and spouse generously helped me through school twenty plus years ago), so I am well aware of the current job market. Thanks!