How To Negotiate Your Law School Scholarship
How To Negotiate Your Law School Scholarship
It’s no secret that law school is expensive. Luckily, financial aid and merit-based scholarships can offset your cost of attendance and make attending your dream school a reality. To help you negotiate your law school scholarship, we’ve compiled this list of helpful tips.
How To Negotiate Your Law School Scholarship
1. Apply Early
Applying early can not only boost your chances of admission, it can also increase your odds at receiving a scholarship. Check out these 5 tips on your law school application timeline! Schools usually have a limit on the amount of money they can award to admitted students. Toward the end of the application cycle, that pool of funding begins shrinking because it is already committed to other admitted students. An early application allows you to take advantage of more potential funding sources and can put you in a better position when it comes time to negotiate your law school scholarship.
2. Do Your Research
Once you receive an award offer from a school, read it carefully. Law schools have different ways of presenting scholarship awards. Your award may be a dollar amount or a percentage of tuition. It may renew every year, apply just the first year, or be conditional on maintaining a certain GPA. We recommend using a spreadsheet to figure out your scholarship’s impact on your actual cost of attendance for a particular school. Then, use those amounts to negotiate for better offers.
Here is a helpful blog post for understanding your law school scholarship offer that will put you in a better position to negotiate.
3. Have A Number In Mind
Each law school has a different policy when it comes to negotiation. Some schools purport to have a no-negotiation policy, while others say they’ll review offers from peer schools. When you do reach out to a school to begin the scholarship negotiation process, make sure you have a particular number in mind. That number? The specific amount of scholarship support you need in order to attend their school. Not only do you need to consider tuition and room and board, but also books, fees, transportation, and other personal expenses.
4. Keep It Professional
Scholarship negotiation may feel adversarial at times but always act respectfully toward any school personnel you engage with. In most cases, they may be willing to work with you, but have their own limits and constraints on what they can offer. You can be firm about what you need in order to attend their institution, but recognize that you may ultimately have to walk away.
5. Stay Organized
As you negotiate your law school scholarship, keep track of whom you speak with. If any verbal offers are made, ask to get them in writing as soon as possible. Keeping detailed notes will help you stay organized and negotiate more efficiently. Some schools limit the number of times they will reconsider a financial aid offer. If one of your schools has that rule, be strategic about when you approach them.
For many law students, the ability to negotiate your law school scholarship can make your dream a reality. These five tips will help you get started!
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