The Thomas Jefferson School of Law and the University of Tulsa College of Law both announced new scholarship programs that will make earning a J.D. more affordable for law students, according to the National Law Journal.
The Law School Admission Council said that total law school applications as of February 21 were down by 12 percent compared to the same time period in 2013.
The new scholarship from Tulsa is named the Access to Legal Education Scholarship. It will drop tuition by half for incoming students from 12 states. Those 12 states include Oklahoma, Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota, Texas or Wyoming. The students could also qualify by earning an undergraduate degree from a college or university in one of those 12 states.
Students awarded the scholarship will be given $18,000 for their education annually, which drops the annual tuition to $16,430. Students will need to keep their GPA at 2.0. The new program begins in the fall.
The dean of the school, Janet Levit, said that the program “directly responds to rising tuition, mounting student debt and a challenging job market for law graduates. A report released just last month by the American Bar Association Task Force on the Future of Legal Education encourages innovation among law schools, and TU Law is responding swiftly to this call for action with major new funding.”
In San Diego, Thomas Jefferson is offering scholarships to transfer and incoming students in the fall. These scholarships are called Guaranteed Merit Scholarships. The student can earn more money based on how high their LSAT and undergraduate GPAs are.
Students can earn a scholarship for full tuition, which is $44,000, by having an LSAT of 158 or higher and a GPA of 3.5 or higher.
The dean of the school, Thomas Guernsey, said, “We know that paying for law school is a crucial factor in the decision-making process. By adopting this new Guaranteed Merit Scholarship program, we are helping our students reduce the cost of their legal education as long as they remain enrolled and maintain good standing. It’s a win-win situation.”