Advice from Alumni: Negotiating the Cost of Law School

Published March 29, 2017 This content is archived.

Attending law school, to many, is a financial risk. With the changing legal landscape, choosing the right school and minimizing the cost of law school are crucial for aspiring law students.

Negotiating a financial aid package with a law school is much different from the process you underwent when financing your undergraduate education. For undergraduates, financial aid grants may be awarded based upon your demonstrated need. This is often not the case in law school. Although need-based aid in law school is not very common, merit-based aid is. Applying to schools that are known for their merit based aid may help you leverage with another school for more scholarship money. It is important to keep your approach and tone appropriate through the negotiating process.

It is an ideal time to apply to law school since applications have been down across United States. This makes law schools more competitive to bring in students, therefore making them willing to negotiate on scholarships. Higher LSAT scores and GPA’s will allow for even more leverage in the financial aid negotiations, so make sure to keep those up as much as possible.