is there any data on estimated financial aide/ free ride chances???

shesovertheedge

I got my score today. my score and GPA are well past the 75th percentile for the school im looking at. I will also have a masters degree at the time of application. Im wondering if there is any way to find out how much financial aide these schools are willing to give in relation to score/gpa

miriaml7

I'm not sure if you're familiar with the 509 Disclosure, but I think it's a great resource to get some data about what types of aid other students with similar numbers as yours have received. There's even a break down that shows you how many full rides a school has given out for the selected year. To my understanding the reported data is based off of a yearly questionnaire that ABA-approved law schools have to submit. There's also data about a school's bar passage and employment. Hope this helps!

http://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/Disclosure509.aspx

jonesk0473

Use the aba 509 report for your school. It will report the 25th, 50th, and 75 percentile amount of money given a particular law class. Then the form also records the percent of the class receiving half to full tuition, full tuition and more than full tuition

cooljon525-1-1

When they say 50th percentile grant amount, is that merit only or financial aid included?

shesovertheedge

Thanks so much

miriaml7

@cooljon525 That's a really good question! I checked the ABA's website and was able to locate a copy of the actual questionnaire that is sent out to the schools. The link is:
https://www.americanbar.org/groups/legal_education/resources/statistics/
(click on annual questionnaire)
From what I read, it seems that the the ABA defines financial aid as grants/scholarships that are given by the law school, whether it be need-based or merit-based. I am assuming that this doesn't take into account anything like FASFA grants/loans. Hope this helps!

cooljon525-1-1

@miriaml7 Thank you. Also is the grant amount the total amount for 3 years or is that per year?

miriaml7

I'm not really sure about that. I would assume it's yearly, but I could very well be wrong @cooljon525

shesovertheedge

kind of unrelated but do soft factors contribute to financial awards at all??