Legally First | Part II: Financing the LSAT & Law School

Legally First: Navigating the Legal Profession

as a First-Generation Minority Student

Part II: Financing the LSAT & Law School

Welcome back to Legally First! This is the second installment of the series where I cover financing the LSAT and law school.

Law school is expensive. For one year alone, it can cost the average student upwards of $40,000. However, merit-based scholarships are available to students to help pay for law school. Law schools award most scholarships to incoming students with exceptional GPAs and LSAT scores. So, an aspiring law student should have good grades and a good LSAT score, but sometimes a good LSAT score alone (160+) can offset the effects of a low GPA, enabling an aspiring law student to receive a generous scholarship package. If you haven’t gotten the message already, the LSAT is critical in receiving full-ride scholarships to law school.

Funding LSAT Prep:

As a minority student from a low-income background, I couldn’t afford to pay for an LSAT prep course, but I knew I needed help to do my best on the LSAT because I typically don’t score highly on standardized tests. Luckily, the pre-law department at my undergraduate institution sent out an email letting students know that a law firm in Michigan offered scholarships to pay for LSAT prep courses, an opportunity that was previously unknown to me. I applied and received the scholarship that paid for the Kaplan LSAT prep course of my choosing.

My suggestion for LSAT prep course scholarships is to start with a basic Google search: “LSAT Prep Scholarships.” From there, you can narrow your search to where you attend college, your hometown, etc. Scholarships like these are everywhere, but you have to be willing to look for them and put in the work required for the application. Most of these applications ask for an essay describing what you want to do with a law degree. Put some thought, effort, and honesty into your essay. If your reason for becoming an attorney is because you want to help the community, share that! For example, I hope to use the legal knowledge that I’ll acquire as a transactional attorney focused on real estate to educate the community about generational wealth and financial literacy. Your reason for being a lawyer won’t be the same as mine, so share your authentic “why”, and secure your LSAT prep course scholarship while doing so! Also, have multiple people take a look at your essay. I used the writing center at my school, where multiple people helped me craft the perfect essay.

Negotiating and Securing Scholarships:

Be sure to apply early in the application cycle, preferably in the fall, almost a full year before you would start school. Most law schools have a rolling admissions process and a finite amount of scholarship money to give away, so if you wait too long, law schools will offer the money to other students. Fortunately, most law schools have a standard application and no additional steps to be considered for a merit scholarship, so once you take the LSAT and prepare your materials, you can quickly apply to schools.

Once you’ve received your scholarship offers from law schools, don’t be afraid to NEGOTIATE! I was down to my last top two choice schools, and one school that was ranked higher than the other offered me more money. I used the higher-ranked school’s offer to negotiate with the lower-ranked school, which increased its offer by $20,000. So, after a series of negotiations, I received a very generous scholarship, and I’m now at the law school that felt most like home!

Be mindful that there are other ways to receive full-ride scholarships to law school. There are law schools that award full-ride scholarships solely to diverse students! Also, fellowship programs are available that award generous scholarships to students. For example, the ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund grants 20 incoming diverse law students $15,000 in financial assistance over their three years in law school. There are also numerous scholarships similar to the ABA’s fund, so conduct a Google search and apply to everything that you come across!

Continued Expenses of Law School:

The financial burdens of law school don’t just go away once you’ve been admitted and secured scholarships. Textbooks, for instance, are expensive and can be as much as $400 for one book. Professors require new versions of textbooks with access codes that students sometimes never use, a problem that I’ve experienced more times than I’d like in law school. However, you can save on your textbooks in a few ways. For example, you can rent your books from Amazon or Chegg. Or you can buy textbooks from students who already took the course at a lower price than what you would pay for a new copy. For my criminal law course, I bought a textbook that cost $300 at the bookstore from a student for $80. The student didn’t use the access code, so I also got access to my course’s online material. Another option to save money on textbooks is to check the book out from the library before every class, or you could even scan pages from the book and avoid the hassle of checking the book out every time you need it. Many professors place course textbooks on reserve in the school’s library for this very reason.

Many law schools suggest that 1Ls don’t work their first year because your focus should be on grades to secure good summer positions. So, during your first semester, spend your money wisely! For example, meal prepping each week can save you a lot of time and money since eating out every day can add up quickly. Trust me, I know from experience, and I’m currently trying to get the hang of meal prepping and saving money on food. If you absolutely have to get a job, which some people do, try to find a job that will allow you to study. At my law school, the library allows second-semester 1Ls to work, and these students can study when not attending to library needs. Again, I can’t stress enough how critical your law school grades are! Some law schools even provide small scholarships to students after 1L year if students make the top third and above of their law school class. For example, a student can get at least $100 off per semester and up to $500 off if the student is well-ranked.

Conclusion:

Funding LSAT prep courses and law school can be difficult, but it’s not impossible. On several occasions, I wondered how I would afford law school, but my mom always told me to keep believing; my hard work would pay off soon. This is something that she still tells me, especially when I'm anxiously waiting for law school grades. So, remember why you want to do this and stay grounded when you take this journey. Your hard work, too, will pay off soon.