My DS just asked us if we would help pay for law school because COA at places like Georgetown are 118K per year. Question: How does financial aid work for students who are 21 and applying to law school? Do parents still fill out the forms. Do law schools provide institutional grants (don’t have to pay back) especially bc a 21 year old is likely not to have much income or assets. If so, which ones, if not, what do students do? I understand it is better to wait to attend but I am curious how it works. DS is already concerned (as are we) about how to cover the costs. Thank you so much.
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Some law schools do give scholarships to some students.
Financial aid for law school is not done the same as for undergrad. Yes, the student completes a financial aid form. But most professional school aid is done based on the strength of your application, and the school’s desire to have you as part of their cohort. There are not things like Pell Grants for low income students, for example. But some law schools do give grants to student. Grants and scholarships do not need to be paid back.
Many law school grads have a LOT of loan debt when they finish law school.
There are some possible changes happening to college loans, but these are just in the talking phase now.
Right now, law school students can take out grad plus loans up to the cost of attendance. But that could change. There is also a Direct Loan amount for law school students, but I’m not sure what that amount is. @kelsmom might know.
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My D’s friend just graduated - had/has merit and “smaller” loans. We were talking today about how future grads may not be able to do PSLF and that this would impact many people. Other loans may be impacted as well.
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Few law schools offer need-based aid. Instead, it’ss mostly merit aid, based on GPA and/or LSAT being in the top quartile of their admissions pool. If your D got into GULC, she would likely receive merit from lower-ranked law schools.
Students paying sticker either have wealth families, or maximize loans. The latter is not a good financial play.
btw: historically, GULC has been the least generous of the T14.
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Students in law school are automatically independent for FAFSA (all grad/professional students are). That really doesn’t make a lot of difference, though, because there is no need based federal aid at the grad level (other than possible federal work study). Completing the FAFSA does allow the student to borrow federal unsubsidized loans (no subsidized loans for grads) - currently the annual limit is $20,500. Grad PLUS loans, which require a credit check (not for good credit, but rather for “bad” credit), are available … currently up to the cost of attendance less all other aid.
As noted, some schools do have scholarships for law school students. Some may also have grants based on need, and these schools will typically require parents to complete financial aid forms (the idea is to help students whose families are unable to help them). My D has a friend who had a full scholarship to law school, but it was not a top law school … however, he got a law degree, passed the bar and has a job he likes a lot.
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They are…but I know that in the case of some medical schools, parent info is still required on the FAFSA. In some cases until age 30. @WayOutWestMom can verify this.
I don’t know if some law schools do this or not.
Harvard Law does offer need based aid and requires parental financials using a College Board formula. Dunno if they also require FAFSA.
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This is true for most public and private med schools. If the student wants to be considered for institutional aid, they are asked to provide parental financial info even though they have graduated from undergrad and have, in many cases, have been living independently for several years. It’s also true if they’re married–spousal AND parental financial info is asked for.
Some med schools use a student and parental FAFSA; others use FAFSA plus a CSS Profile or an institution-specific FA form.
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As mentioned above Stafford loan limits are much higher for all post-baccalaureate schooling than undergrad. Max those out first. But lawyers have good income potential, so you will find private companies willing to extend loans.
Merit aid works like undergrad. The better you are compared to their average student, the more likely you are to get money.
My college roommate turned down a full ride at Washington & Lee to attend Vanderbilt Law. Claimed future earnings would cover the cost. But that was last century. I think his three years were not much more than your number for one year at Georgetown.
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But the rates and the origination fees are also higher than for undergrad. No one wants to start out as a lawyer with $300k in loans
A friend applied to G’town and GW and went to GW because she got a large merit award. She was/is a fantastic writer so I’m sure her applications were outstanding (she was accepted with merit at several schools). She really thrived there and was president of her class and got a federal clerkship upon graduation with a job at a large firm waiting for her.
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The “buckets” for paying for law school are: need based grants, merit based grants, and loans.
A small number of law schools give need based grants which don’t have to be paid back --the top laws schools, Harvard, Yale and Stanford, and perhaps some others. Those schools do look at parental income and assets in deciding on need based grants, typically until a students is in their late 20s. Parents are not obligated to contribute the amount a school determines they could contribute, that is simply folded into the calculation of how much “need” a student has. At those schools, parents are typically still filling out financial aid forms in order for their student to be eligible for need-based aid.
Merit based grants are awarded based heavily on stats – undergrad gpa and LSAT score. Schools “buy” the higher stat applicants through merit awards. There is a lot of information available on various sites about how much above median gpa and/or LSAT an applicant needs to be to get merit. Admitted students are often deciding between good merit awards at lower ranked schools and being “full pay” at higher ranked schools. For an aspiring law school applicant, getting the highest possible gpa and the highest possible LSAT are the goals.
Loans – students can borrow up to the school’s full cost of attendance, that is, tuition plus room, board, books, health insurance etc. Schools determine that number, taking into account reasonable housing costs in the area etc. Students can borrow through the federal loan programs which are not subsidized and do accrue interest during law school, or through private lenders. There is uncertainty about how federal loan programs for grad school, including law school, might change as the Administration has floated various proposals. Traditionally, various government loan forgiveness programs for public interest lawyers only applied to federal loans, not private loans, though there is currently uncertainty about those programs. The higher ranked law schools often have their own programs which reduce the monthly payment towards loans for students who are public interest lawyers, but the details about those programs vary widely in terms of eligibility etc.
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There are numerous articles about how the lower ranked schools game the merit system so students considering this option need to do their homework.
I think it was the Wall Street Journal a few years back which blew the whistle on what was a common practice- basically front-loading the first year of law school with an attractive merit award, and then making sure (just the arithmetic of the grading system) that VERY few students could actually qualify to KEEP the award for year 2 and 3. So students then had the conundrum- stay at their law school having lost all or most of their merit award (so paying full price), dropping out entirely, or trying to transfer to a more generous school for the last two years which in most cases meant an even LOWER ranked law school.
Do your homework. It’s exciting and affirming to get merit money for law school- but if it buys you 1/3 of a law degree (so pretty much useless for practicing law) it’s not that exciting.
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It’s the lower ranked schools which use “conditional” merit awards requiring a minimum law school gpa to keep the award. While I don’t know how far down the rankings one goes before getting to conditional merit awards, as the OP referred to Georgetown Law, I can say that T14 law schools and even T30 law schools, are not using conditional merit awards – once the award is given, it is there for all three years. While I don’t generally recommend the “law school” message board on reddit because it can be a dark sinkhole, there are a lot of resources there to help understand merit award eligibility etc.
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“My DS just asked us if we would help pay for law school because COA at places like Georgetown are 118K per year.”
I don’t interpret this to mean that the OP’s kid has been accepted to Georgetown. Unless I’m misreading this thread, the general question is “do law schools offer merit awards”. If there’s anything here that suggests the kid in question is evaluating a merit award from a top 30 law school- then Mea Culpa. But I know lots of families who “assume” my kid is a lock at Duke or Georgetown (i.e. T14 but not one of the top of four) only to discover that the stats mean they are looking at an entirely different set of schools. WAY down the food chain.
I believe the OP’s student is an incoming freshman (see previous thread) so a lot can happen before applying to law school, if that ever happens. That said, whenever grad school is a strong possibility it is wise to consider the financial implications as early as possible, preferably as part of the undergrad application process and budget plan.
@burghdad has shared his D’s law school merit search in many posts, but here is his thread sharing their experience. While this may not ultimately be the OP kid’s journey, it may provide food for thought.
ETA: I did not intend to reply directly to blossom. 
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Absolutely, I was not assuming the OP’s kid had been accepted to law school but rather that law school might be down the road. I meant to suggest that, if schools like Georgetown are in the conversation, those schools are not giving conditional merit awards. But yes, anyone making law school decisions should be balancing debt/merit and employment outcomes.
Law school admissions is about gpa and LSAT – schools publish their median scores and a student should be above both gpa and LSAT median to have any confidence they might be admitted. For ex, Duke says its median gpa is a 3.89 and LSAT is 170 (out of 180) while Harvard’s median is 3.95 and 174. Not a lot of room for mistakes during undergrad . . . . Plus, schools want applicants with post-grad work experience, “KJD” students – who applied to law school directly out from college without any work experience – have a harder time being admitted to law school.
(I say this as a law school professor whose own adult kid has graduated from a T6 law school).
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Amazing. TYSM for sharing!