Important Financial Aid Links
The most important financial aid links are those of the
individual law schools to which you will apply. As explained
earlier, each law school takes a different approach to financial
aid, particularly when it comes to the school’s allocation of its
own money.
There are numerous web sites dedicated to financial aid. The
following list will give you some places to start. None of these web
sites is specifically endorsed by the Pre-Law Advisor, but all are
comprehensive and usually quite reliable sources of information.
Since financial aid requirements often change, it is a good idea to
ensure that you are finding the most up-to-date information as you
conduct your on-line searches.
www.ed.gov/index.jsp
The index to the U.S. Department of Education web site, with direct
links to information about paying for graduate education.
www.fafsa.ed.gov
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA (pronounced
“faf-sa”), is required for virtually all law schools and federal aid
programs. You can download the form from this web site The form can
be filed as of January 1st of each year.
www.finaid.org
This award winning non-profit web site has an amazing amount of
financial aid information. Be sure to click on the link to “Other
Types of Aid,” which contains a long list of criteria upon which
particular kinds of aid can be based (race, ethnicity, gender,
religion, course of study, sports, etc.).
www.accessgroup.org
Access Group is a non-profit educational lender dedicated to making
graduate school loans affordable and accessible. Its Law Access Loan
(LAL) was among the first of its kind.
www.nelliemae.com
One of the largest non-profit loan providers in the nation. It
offers “LawExcel” loans.
www.salliemae.com
Created by the federal government, Sallie Mae is the largest
secondary student loan lender in the nation. (A secondary lender
buys loans from other lenders, like banks, and makes loans of its
own.) It offers the LAWLOANS program, which combines federal and
Sallie Mae loans to cover virtually the entire cost of law school.
It also offers the Bar Study Loan, to help you pay for a bar review
course.
www.princetonreview.com/law/finance
The Princeton Review web site contains comprehensive information
about paying for law school, including a tuition calculator, an aid
comparison calculator, and a link to various scholarship web sites |
