Paying for law school—do you want the good news or bad news first?  OK, here’s the good news—there’s plenty of money out there. The bad news—you’ll probably have to pay it all back. For you econ majors that’s called a “loan.”  The fact is, getting a law degree is an expensive proposition. Not med-school costly, but your J.D. degree can easily top $50 thousand and for many top-tier law schools that figure can soar up to $150 thousand.  So, where will this money come from?

1. You will self-finance.  God bless, read no further. By paying all this by yourself (or through your amazingly generous parents) you’ve been given a freedom to pursue any post grad law and not have to focus on the few very competitive but breathtakingly well paying entry level jobs. Do I need to mention that those jobs will almost certainly exclude any public interest or public sector positions?

2. The law school admissions office.  For most law schools, the financial aid and admissions function are in the same office. That stands to reason because once you’re admitted, schools want to make every effort to see that when/if you come you can pay. Most law schools live off their tuition fees to survive.

3. The Feds and private financial sector. If you loved filling out your 1040, you’re going to love filling out the required forms necessary to apply for the variety of government-backed or bank loans available as presented to you by your law school’s admissions office. I won’t bore you with repeating the materials exhorting you to meet the required (and crucial!) deadlines and form-submissions, but missing or ignoring them may leave you with an empty-hand and wallet.

4. Merit money. Again, once they’ve admitted you law schools want you to be able to afford them.  Although not very plentiful, carefully review the school’s catalog to see if you qualify for any of their free-money merit grants. Except for the top-ten schools which already have them, most schools LOVE big LSAT numbers. If your LSAT was 10+ points higher than the school’s published medians, they may very well want to throw incentive money at you (usually in the form of a tuition discount, not hard cash). Huge GPA numbers with average LSAT scores don’t have the same clout, but may be worth giving it a shot. What ever you do, if you think you may be in the merit-money category, DON’T accept an admission offer until you negotiate with the admissions folks. All of us Admissions Consultants know how to finesse this process, so don’t be shy! You will never be in a stronger negotiating position once you’ve been offered an admission spot and before you accept and a few minutes of polite “negotiation” can be worth thousands.

5. Fellowships, scholarships and loan-forgiveness programs.   Law schools are a bit defensive about the reputation of the legal profession. In a way, they see themselves on the front lines in countering the public’s vision of it as an essentially mercenary occupation so many schools have special programs to encourage its graduates to enter pubic interest law careers. Often this takes the form of so-called “loan forgiveness” programs which means if you take a certain category of those kinds of jobs (with their attending modest salaries) an increasing percentage of your loans will be forgiven over time. Another fellowship type programs require a competitive application to receive these outright grants. Again, the school’s admissions office will detail all those programs and application criteria. These are worthwhile programs, but very competitive.

6. Jobs and internships.     Those of you out there at or near the top of your class from a reasonably competitive law school and have an expressed interest in a private-sector law career may have the opportunity of injecting good money into your budget through well-paying summer internships after your first year. If your academic performance is stellar, these positions can go a decent way towards lightening your debt burden.

To wrap up, let me share a true story. Some years back, an advisee of mine got into both Harvard and University of Miami. The school she eventually selected was a shrewd parlay based on her extraordinarily focused goals. (1) She wanted to live and work in southern Florida, (2) wanted to make her career in the judiciary, with the ultimate objective of becoming a judge, (3) wanted a school well-networked in that employment sector and, finally, (4) did NOT want to pay a dime for her legal education. Of course Miami Law is a fine school, but they’d be the first to admit it’s no Harvard. My advisee’s knew her highly targeted career goals were easily covered by Miami and it was worth the cool $150,000 to forego the ego blast that invariably comes with the Harvard J.D. Last time I checked, she was well on her way to the bench and living happily ever after.

It’s time to talk dollars…you’ve worked hard to submit your admissions application.  Now it’s time to concentrate on your financial aid application.  There are two categories of financial aid: scholarships and loans. 

Scholarships are "free money" that you do not need to repay.  Some schools may require you to submit forms to be considered for scholarships; other will not.  Be sure to verify the process for every school to which you’re applying.  For many schools, you will not need to apply for scholarships.  Once you are accepted to that law school, the Admissions Committee automatically reviews your application for scholarship potential.  Generally, scholarships are merit based.  Scholarship amounts vary from school to school. 

I suggest that you research other scholarship avenues such as your church or synagogue, and organizations including the Hellenic Bar Association, the Justinian Society of Lawyers, the Hispanic Lawyers Association, the Decalogue Society of Lawyers, and the American Bar Association, just to name a few.  Check out each school’s website as it may include a listing of other potential sources.  Search online for foundations that may provide scholarship support, as well as websites providing scholarship opportunities.  It will take effort on your part and will be worth it. 

Applying for loans is a much more intensive process.  I strongly recommend applying for financial aid right after the first of the year.  Do not, and I repeat, do not wait to be accepted to a law school before applying for financial aid.  Your goal should be to complete your financial aid application before you’ve been accepted so that you will receive a financial aid award letter before your first deposit is required.  If you wait to apply for financial aid, you may need to place your first deposit without knowing your financial aid status. 

The first step is to submit the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, commonly known as the FAFSA, to the U.S. Department of Education.  I encourage you to submit the FAFSA as soon as possible after January 1.  FAFSA applications can be found at http://www.fafsa.ed.gov.  You can also pick up a hard copy of the FAFSA in the law school’s Financial Aid Office.

Some schools may require an additional form called the Need Access Form which can be found at http://www.needaccess.org. 

Each law school’s website has a section on Financial Aid with complete instructions in applying for aid.  The financial aid process varies from school to school; do not assume the process at one school is the same for another. 

Also review the Law School Admission Council website (www.lsac.org).  Click on "Financing Law School" on the home page.

Start now…and good luck.