The most important financial aid links are those of the individual law schools to which you will apply. As explained earlier, each law school takes a different approach to financial aid, particularly when it comes to the school’s allocation of its own money.

There are numerous web sites dedicated to financial aid. The following list will give you some places to start. None of these web sites is specifically endorsed by the Pre-Law Advisor, but all are comprehensive and usually quite reliable sources of information. Since financial aid requirements often change, it is a good idea to ensure that you are finding the most up-to-date information as you conduct your on-line searches.

www.ed.gov/index.jsp
The index to the U.S. Department of Education web site, with direct links to information about paying for graduate education.

www.fafsa.ed.gov
The Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA (pronounced “faf–sa”), is required for virtually all law schools and federal aid programs. You can download the form from this web site The form can be filed as of January 1st of each year.

www.finaid.org
This award winning non-profit web site has an amazing amount of financial aid information. Be sure to click on the link to “Other Types of Aid,” which contains a long list of criteria upon which particular kinds of aid can be based (race, ethnicity, gender, religion, course of study, sports, etc.).

www.accessgroup.org
Access Group is a non-profit educational lender dedicated to making graduate school loans affordable and accessible. Its Law Access Loan (LAL) was among the first of its kind.

www.nelliemae.com
One of the largest non-profit loan providers in the nation. It offers “LawExcel” loans.

www.salliemae.com
Created by the federal government, Sallie Mae is the largest secondary student loan lender in the nation. (A secondary lender buys loans from other lenders, like banks, and makes loans of its own.) It offers the LAWLOANS program, which combines federal and Sallie Mae loans to cover virtually the entire cost of law school. It also offers the Bar Study Loan, to help you pay for a bar review course.

www.princetonreview.com/law/finance
The Princeton Review web site contains comprehensive information about paying for law school, including a tuition calculator, an aid comparison calculator, and a link to various scholarship web sites