- Law students interested in serving the greater good will find more grants.gavel image by Cora Reed from Fotolia.com
Paying for higher education is a daunting prospect, and law school is no exception. In 2010, the estimated cost of a year at Columbia Law is $74,000. Though law schools provide credentials for jobs that easily pay enough to make student loan payments, nobody wants debt. Thankfully, professional associations, the federal government, and law schools themselves provide grant opportunities for future lawyers on a tight budget. - Federal grants for law education are provided at the undergraduate level. Pre-law students at law schools or other colleges and universities are eligible for both the Pell Grant and the Academic Competitiveness Grant. The Pell Grant is entirely needs based, while the Academic Competitiveness Grant is, as its name makes clear, a grant awarded to students of excellent academic merit. The latter grant is available to first- and second-year undergraduate students, while the former is paid twice per year, for each year of undergraduate study.
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue SW
Washington, D.C. 20202
202-401-2000
ed.gov - The American Bar Association awards over $100,000 annually in grants and scholarships for law students and student groups in an effort to fund education and promote the development of legal professionals. The ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship Fund was designed to encourage racially and ethnically diverse students to attend law school. The Fund provides up to $15,000 in funding spread over the three years of law school. The ABA runs a number of essay writing contests annually, the winners of which receive funding for law school in the form of grants and scholarships.
American Bar Association
740 15th Street, N.W.
Washington, DC 20005
202-662-1000
abanet.org - The National Bar Institute is a nonprofit organization that was founded by members of the National Bar Association to raise awareness of legal issues and provide legal educational opportunities for all Americans. Under the auspices of the African American Law Student Fellowship Program, the NBI awards grants in amounts of up to $10,000 to qualified students to encourage African American students to pursue a legal education. Eligible students must have completed two years of law school and intend to practice law in a black community upon graduation.
National Bar Institute
National Bar Association
1225 11th Street, NW
Washington, DC 20001
202-842-3900
nationalbar.org - New York City's Columbia Law School provides grants and fellowships to help fund the education of prospective and attendant students. Applications for grants and fellowships are only accepted from those who have been accepted to the school. The school awards a number of Law School grants each year in the form of a partial tuition waver, the amount of which fluctuates in accordance to annual adjustments of the cost of a Columbia education. The school also has a generous Loan Repayment Assistance Program for students looking to enter a field of law with minimal wages, such as serving the public interest.
Columbia Law School
435 West 116th Street
Mail Code 4004
New York, NY 10027
212-854-2640
columbia.edu
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