Law Schools Shell Out Deep Tuition Discounts to Students

Twenty-eight-year-old Alison Shea from Boston based her law school decision in part on affordability.

"I was trying to figure out how to swing paying for law school," says the part-time law student, who deferred her acceptance to New England Law Boston for a year. "Fortunately, about halfway through the year, I was awarded the dean's scholarship, which was the reason why I was able to go to New England."

Shea says the scholarship covers around 75 percent of tuition each semester, which amounts to funding more than $100,000 of her education. On her LSAT, Shea says she scored higher than most students at New England. The typical LSAT score for a full-time student entering the class in fall 2016 at New England Law was 150, according to survey data reported to U.S. News.

With waning applicants pools, more law schools are dishing out generous scholarships and tuition discounts to attract applicants with higher LSAT scores.

"Law schools have had to become more generous with their scholarships to spur enrollment, particularly among students with high LSAT scores," says Aaron Taylor, executive director of AccessLex Center for Legal Education Excellence.

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Taylor says the number of test-takers who score higher than 160 on the LSAT has declined in recent years.

Over the last 10 years of admission cycles, the number of applicants with 160 to 180 LSAT scores declined 34 percent, according to a Law School Admission Council report. The LSAC report shows that the number of students with a score higher than 160 has fallen from 22,196 in 2007-2008 to 14,548 in 2016-2017.

For those who score higher than 160, Taylor says, "That group is coveted even more now, so they may have a higher chance of getting a scholarship than in the past. And that scholarship is probably more lucrative or generous," Taylor says.

Tuition discounting -- often used to attract top students -- increased between 2015 and 2016 among several private law schools, according to a recent report. The tuition discounting survey from the National Association of College and University Business Officers and the AccessLex Institute found that tuition discounts among high-tuition law schools increased from 33 percent in fall 2015 to 38 percent in fall 2016. The report also found that nearly half of all law students among the surveyed schools received a tuition discount in fall 2016.

"If you look at the Access report , there has been an increase in discounting as the markets have become more competitive, and law schools have had to use money to maintain credentials and the quality of incoming students," says Austen Parrish, dean and professor of law at the Maurer School of Law at Indiana University--Bloomington.

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The real cost of attending law school for many students is lower compared to previous years, Parrish says.

The amount that most students pay after discounts and scholarships -- the average net tuition -- at private law schools was $29,754 for J.D. students enrolled in fall 2016, according to the schools surveyed in the NACUBO/AccessLex report. U.S. News data show that the average tuition and fees charged that private law schools charge in 2016-2017 amounted to $43,020.

According to U.S. News data, most law students who received a grant award for the 2016-2017 school year received amounts between $20,000-$48,300.

But it's not just private law schools that are offering discounts. Both public and private institutions are relying on discounts to spur enrollment, says Taylor from AccessLex.

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"Practically every law school in the country is offering more tuition discounts or scholarships than they did pre-2010. It really is a classic example of supply and demand. There are fewer applicants in the hopper , and that's one of the ways schools are responding -- whether it's public or private," he says.

Admissions experts say that many grad school applicants are choosing to apply to business schools or other graduate programs these days because of perceived return on investment.

Some of the downward pressure in law school applications is a response to fewer legal jobs at desirable wage levels after graduation, says Eric Greenberg, president of Greenberg Educational Group Inc., a New York-based consulting firm for college and grad school admissions.

However, he says with the decrease in law school applicants, "Most of the students we see for law school admission are ending up a lot better off in terms of finances than they were even five years ago."

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Farran Powell is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering paying for college and graduate school. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at fpowell@usnews.com.