Paying for Law School: Financial Aid
The University of Washington School of Law’s Commitment to Institutional Aid
The UW School of Law is dedicated to helping students meet educational expenses through loans, grants, and scholarships.
The law school and the University of Washington's Office of Student Financial Aid
(OSFA) are committed to offering a comprehensive finaicial aid package to help
students achieve their educational goals while minimizing student educational
debt.
Debt Management Before Law School
Planning ahead and making informed choices can make a difference in the degree to which your education financing choices will have an impact on your future. Try to accumulate some savings from work, investigate alternatives to borrowing, budget your income and expenses, and recognize that you will need to make adjustments to your lifestyle.
Managing your law school debt should begin before you enter law school. Make every effort to enter law school with little or no consumer debt. Law School is not the time to have high credit card or car payments. Debt management before and during law school is very important for many reasons. For example:
- Controlling your level of indebtedness before you enter law school will reduce your need to borrow during your enrollment. Excessive borrowing during law school can limit your career choices when you graduate.
- Your credit history reflects how you manage repayment of your debts, and a good credit history is needed to borrow certain types of educational loans.
Before you enter law school, it is important to:
- Design and implement a budget/financial plan to guide and limit spending, and make the most of non-loan resources;
- Pay off or reduce your consumer credit debt;
- Save money to apply toward education costs, to reduce your reliance on loans by contributing more from your own savings and other resources;
- Conduct research to locate grant and scholarship opportunities, and apply for grants and scholarships (as well as all other financial aid) in a timely manner.