How to Pay for Law School in 2022

Ways to Pay for Law School

Figuring out how to pay for law school can be as stressful as taking the Bar. Ok, maybe not that stressful. You’re likely well aware that the decision to attend law school typically comes with a big tuition bill as well. Fortunately, we’re here to inform you on the financial options available for students who plan to obtain a law degree. In this article, you will find a great deal of information on scholarships and grants available to law school students, including student loan options, and the more affordable law programs out there. Whether you’re a prospective, current, or graduating student, this page is a helpful resource to help you pay for law school.

Best Private Student Loans for Law School

Recommendation

Best for Private Loans

Interest Rates

Variable rates as low as: 3.24% APR¹

Fixed rates as low as: 3.99% APR¹

Repayment Terms

5, 8, 10 or 15 years²

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Recommendation

Best for Private Loans

Interest Rates

Variable rates as low as: 4.49% APR (with autopay)^*

Fixed rates as low as: 4.99% APR (with autopay)^*

Repayment Terms

Up to four repayment types (including no payments while in school) and multiple repayment terms help you find the loan that fits your budget

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Variable Rates: Starting variable rates range from 4.49% APR - 13.88% APR (with autopay)^*, and will never exceed 13.95% (sometimes lower in certain states as required by law)
Fixed Rates: Fixed rates range from 4.99% APR to 14.83% APR (with autopay)^*
Easy online application!
No origination fees, late fees, and no insufficient fund fees. Period
Up to four repayment types (including no payments while in school) and multiple repayment terms help you find the loan that fits your budget
0.25% discount when you set up autopay^*

*UNDERGRADUATE LOANS: Fixed rates from 4.99% to 14.75% annual percentage rate ("APR") (with autopay), variable rates from 4.49% to 13.82% APR (with autopay). GRADUATE LOANS: Fixed rates from 5.25% to 14.48% APR (with autopay), variable rates from 4.99% to 13.82% APR (with autopay). PARENT LOANS: Fixed rates from 6.50% to 14.83% APR (with autopay), variable rates from 5.74% to 13.88% APR (with autopay). For the SoFi variable-rate product, the variable interest rate for a given month is derived by adding a margin to the 30-day average SOFR index, published two business days preceding such calendar month, rounded up to the nearest one hundredth of one percent (0.01% or 0.0001). APRs for variable-rate loans may increase after origination if the SOFR index increases. Interest rates for variable rate loans are capped at 13.95%, unless required to be lower to comply with applicable law. Lowest rates are reserved for the most creditworthy borrowers. If approved for a loan, the interest rate offered will depend on your creditworthiness, the repayment option you select, the term and amount of the loan and other factors, and will be within the ranges of rates listed above. The SoFi 0.25% autopay interest rate reduction requires you to agree to make monthly principal and interest payments by an automatic monthly deduction from a savings or checking account. The benefit will discontinue and be lost for periods in which you do not pay by automatic deduction from a savings or checking account. Information current as of 11/14/2022.

Terms and Conditions Apply. SOFI RESERVES THE RIGHT TO MODIFY OR DISCONTINUE PRODUCTS AND BENEFITS AT ANY TIME WITHOUT NOTICE. To qualify, a borrower must be a U.S. citizen or other eligible status and meet SoFi's underwriting requirements. Not all borrowers receive the lowest rate. To qualify for the lowest rate, you must have a responsible financial history and meet other conditions. If approved, your actual rate will be within the range of rates listed above and will depend on a variety of factors, including term of loan, evaluation of your creditworthiness, years of professional experience, income, and a variety of other factors. Rates and Terms are subject to change at anytime without notice and are subject to state restrictions. SoFi refinance loans are private loans and do not have the same repayment options that the federal loan program offers, or may become available, such as Income Based Repayment or Income Contingent Repayment or PAYE. Licensed by the Department of Financial Protection and Innovation under the California Financing Law License No. 6054612. SoFi loans are originated by SoFi Lending Corp., NMLS # 1121636. (www.nmlsconsumeraccess.org)

Recommendation

Best for Private Loans

Interest Rates

Graduate Rates

Fixed: 4.19% - 12.78% APR¹

Variable: 3.79% - 10.19%APR¹

Undergraduate Rates

Fixed: 3.99% - 12.78%APR¹

Variable: 3.58% - 12.28%APR¹

Repayment Terms

5, 7, 10,15 or 20 years

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Check your eligibility in just 2 minutes
Flexible repayment options you can choose from
No fees for origination, disbursement, prepayment, or late payment³
Skip a payment once per year (once repayment period restarted)⁴
Will cover up to 100% of the school's certified cost of attendance
9-month grace period (3 months more than most lenders)²

This information is for graduate and undergraduate students attending participating degree-granting schools. Borrowers must be U.S. citizens or U.S. permanent residents if the school is located outside of the United States. Non-U.S. citizen borrowers who reside in the U.S. are eligible with a creditworthy cosigner (who must be a U.S. citizen or U.S. permanent resident) and are required to provide an unexpired government-issued photo ID to verify identity. Applications are subject to a requested minimum loan amount of $1,000. Current credit and other eligibility criteria apply.

Actual rate and available repayment terms will vary based on your income. Fixed rates range from 4.24% APR to 13.03% APR (excludes 0.25% Auto Pay discount). Variable rates range from 3.83% APR to 12.53% APR (excludes 0.25% Auto Pay discount). Earnest variable interest rate student loan refinance loans are based on a publicly available index, the 30-day Average Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR) published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The variable rate is based on the rate published on the 25th day, or the next business day, of the preceding calendar month, rounded to the nearest hundredth of a percent. The rate will not increase more than once per month. Although the rate will vary after you are approved, it will never exceed 36% (the maximum allowable for this loan). Please note, Earnest Private Student Loans are not available in Nevada. Our lowest rates are only available for our most credit qualified borrowers and contain our .25% auto pay discount from a checking or savings account. It is important to note that the 0.25% Auto Pay discount is not available while loan payments are deferred.

¹You can take advantage of the Auto Pay interest rate reduction by setting up and maintaining active and automatic ACH withdrawal of your loan payment. The interest rate reduction for Auto Pay will be available only while your loan is enrolled in Auto Pay. Interest rate incentives for utilizing Auto Pay may not be combined with certain private student loan repayment programs that also offer an interest rate reduction. For multi-party loans, only one party may enroll in Auto Pay.

²Nine-month grace period is not available for borrowers who choose our Principal and Interest Repayment plan while in school.

³Earnest does not charge fees for origination, late payments, or prepayments. Florida Stamp Tax: For Florida
residents, Florida documentary stamp tax is required by law, calculated as $0.35 for each $100 (or portion thereof) of the principal loan amount, the amount of which is provided in the Final Disclosure. Lender will add the stamp tax to the principal loan amount. The full amount will be paid directly to the Florida Department of Revenue. Certificate of Registration No. 78-8016373916-1.

⁴Earnest clients may skip one payment every 12 months. Your first request to skip a payment can be made once you’ve made at least 6 months of consecutive on-time payments, and your loan is in good standing. The interest accrued during the skipped month will result in an increase in your remaining minimum payment. The final payoff date on your loan will be extended by the length of the skipped payment periods. Please be aware that a skipped payment does count toward the forbearance limits. Please note that skipping a payment is not guaranteed and is at Earnest’s discretion. Your monthly payment and total loan cost may increase as a result of postponing your payment and extending your term.

The information provided on this page is updated as of 11/10/2022. Earnest reserves the right to change, pause, or terminate product offerings at any time without notice.

Earnest loans are originated by Earnest Operations LLC. California Finance Lender License 6054788. NMLS # 1204917. Earnest Operations LLC is located at 303 2nd Street, Suite 401N, San Francisco, CA 94107. Terms and Conditions apply. Visit https://www.earnest.com/terms-of-service, e-mail us at [email protected], or call 888-601-2801 for more information.

Can You Get Scholarships for Law School?

Yes, scholarships for law school are definitely available even if you’ve heard they may be harder to come by. Always check in with the financial aid office to see if they have any available information regarding grants and scholarships for law students. The law school price tag makes scholarships so much more enticing, and it makes sense because scholarships, like grants, do not have to be paid back. Check out our list of prominent law school scholarships below:

American Bar Association Legal Opportunity Scholarship

This scholarship for first-year law students awards 10-20 diverse law students $15,000 in aid over their three years in law school. These scholarships can help cover living expenses while also decreasing the amount of federal student aid you may need.

Arent Fox Diversity Scholarship

Law firm Arent Fox offers a $20,000 scholarship and salaried position to diverse second-year law students. The first $10,000 is paid during the second-year summer, and the other $10,000 is paid once the student returns to the firm as an associate ensuing graduation. Locations are in Boston, DC, Los Angeles, New York City, and San Francisco.

MALDEF Law School Scholarship Program

The Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF) provides $2,000 scholarships to law students seeking to advance the civil rights of the Latino community in the U.S. Each year, 5-15 law school scholarships have been awarded.

MCCA Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr. Scholarship Program

This diversity scholarship program is open to women and diverse students interested in corporate law. $10,000 scholarships are awarded to recipients for their first year of law school. A scholarship like this can help cover living expenses not covered by federal student aid.

Sidney B. Williams, Jr. Scholar Program

The Foundation for Advancement of Diversity in IP Law provides a $10,000 per year tuition grant to select scholars of the Sidney B. Williams, Jr. Scholar Program for up to three (3) years. Financial need, merit, and interest in intellectual property law are considered.

Are There Grants for Law School?

Grants that help pay for law school are typically awarded for law school based on financial need. And, like scholarships, they do not (generally) need to be paid back. Grants may be used to lighten the burden of paying for law school, which is why it’s worth exploring your options.

Here's the catch: searching for grants for law school can be a challenge. This is because most grants helping to pay for law school are sponsored by the law schools themselves. This means that your best bet for keeping your law school debt as low as possible is going to come from reaching out to your schools of interest. Contacting the school's financial aid office is typically a good place to start.

Applying for Grants

When looking at your options for federal student aid, keep in mind that there are many different grants available; sometimes, there are grants specific to those attending law school. Check with your school’s financial aid office and see what information they have regarding available grants.

The Grant Application Process

When applying for grants, there are many similarities to applying for private and federal loans and many differences. The process typically goes something like this:

Find the grant
Complete grant application
You are either approved or denied

IF APPROVED

Receive funds
Use funds to pay for school, housing, etc.

How to Reach Out to Financial Aid Offices

It is important to remember that there are resources available through your school’s financial aid office. Financial aid offices can sometimes be tricky to work with, depending on the school that you are applying to/currently enrolled in. Here are some tips we have when reaching out to your school’s financial aid office:

Write down your questions in advance

Depending on the time of year, the financial aid office can be very busy, and whether you seek help covering your law school costs in person or over the phone or email, it is valuable to your time to prepare.

Sometimes a well-worded email is all it takes

If the financial aid office is very busy, but you have important questions, try sending an email instead. Put enough information in the email that the financial aid office worker can get the scope of your situation and help you with what you need.

Always ask about available grants and scholarships

Keep in mind that the people helping you at the financial aid office are employed to assist students through the process. Many of them have information regarding available scholarships and/or /grants that could help you cover living expenses, existing student loan debt, or upcoming law school expenses.

Best Student Loans for Law School

Depending on where you decide to attend law school, your tuition costs could fall somewhere $100,000 and $200,000 to cover three (3) years of study. In addition to that, tuition doesn’t include other expenses such as housing, food, supplies, etc. With so many costs to account for, it’s quite evident that most aspiring lawyers should weigh their loan options before making any decisions on how they should pay for law school. Next, we break down the differences between federal student loans and private loans for law school.

Federal Loans for Law School

If you would like to use federal student aid loans for your law school education, you will have your choice between the Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan and the Federal Direct PLUS Loan for Graduate Students, better known as Grad PLUS. We break these down below:

Federal Direct Unsubsidized Loan

This federal student aid loan permits law students pursuing a law degree to borrow up to a total of $20,500 each academic year, and the aggregate borrowing limit is $138,000. Your lender for this loan, as with all federal loans, is the U.S. Department of Education. Interest rates are fixed, and interest rates and loan fees vary from year to year as determined by the government. The interest rate for loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023 is 6.54% for 2022 - 2023. The loan fees for loans first disbursed on or after Oct. 1, 2022 through Sept. 30, 2023 is 1.057%.

Federal Direct PLUS Loan for Graduate Students

With this federal student aid loan, law students may borrow up to the cost of attendance (COA) minus other aid. Interest rates on federal loans are fixed, and interest rates and loan fees vary from year to year as set by Congress. One important difference here is that borrowers must not have adverse credit history, as defined by the U.S. Department of Education. A cosigner, or endorser, may be required to secure the loan. The interest rate for federal loans first disbursed on or after July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023 is 7.54% for 2022 - 2023. The loan fees for loans first disbursed on or after Oct. 1, 2022 through Sept. 30, 2023 is 4.228%.

Some additional perks about both of these federal loans include:

The ability to use income-driven repayment plans
Options to postpone payments, if needed (i.e. deferment or forbearance)
Consolidating through the Federal Direct Consolidation Loan program
Potential forgiveness through the PSLF program, also known as Public Service Loan Forgiveness.

To apply for federal loans, make sure you (1) complete the FAFSA, (2) wait for your financial aid award letter from your school which will include your federal student loan eligibility, and then (3) choose to accept or reduce your loan amounts.

Private Loans for Law School

The truth is that federal loans may not cover all of your costs, and private student loans might be necessary to cover the difference. If you find that private loans are the option of choice for you to help pay for a law degree, we’ve got you covered. We work with many lenders who offer loans you might benefit from. Visit our lenders page to see if any of the options work to help you pay for law school. You’ll find flexible repayment options with different loan terms and even income share agreements (ISAs), which prevent you from paying more than you can afford.

Furthermore, private loans come with their own perks.

You may borrow up to the cost of attendance (COA) minus any other aid you receive while enrolled in school
Several lenders offer zero origination fees, and many have lower interest rates than federal programs
You may use a cosigner to help you qualify or to potentially lower your interest rate. To determine if you're eligible for a private student loan, apply with a reputable lender. You can usually get pre-qualified in a matter of minutes.

Note: Remember Public Service Loan Forgiveness? If your goal is to take advantage of the PSLF program after law school, it's important to know that private loans cannot be forgiven by the federal government. That is only for Federal Direct Loans. So if you took out Federal Direct Loans AND private loans, you could still benefit from the PSLF program.

How to Pay for Bar Exam Expenses

Bar exams are not cheap, and preparing for it isn’t cheap either. Most people won’t have sufficient funds put away to account for bar exam expenses, but there is financial help available for aspiring lawyers. Bar loans exist to help law school students getting ready for the big test cover the cost of the exam, exam prep, and even living expenses.

Note: You can cover the cost of your bar exam expenses with a private student loan lender or a Federal Grad PLUS Loan; however, you will have to meet more conditions with the federal loan, and you may not be able to cover as many expenses.

Refinance Law School Loans

If you're looking to refinance your law school loans, you've come to the right place. We work with some of the best lenders in the industry to provide you with competitive rates and flexible repayment options. We encourage you to check out our lenders and see if any of their offerings work for you.

Also, if you're considering consolidating, we recommend that you check out, "Should I Consolidate My Student Loans?" Refinancing and consolidating aren't exactly the same thing, and we educate you on the differences between the two, pros and cons of each, and more.