The True Costs of Law School? Seeking TLSers Forum

[observationalist]

Was reading the discussion about NYU at sticker (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 1&t=184967) and wanted to start a new thread asking about financial award letters. This gets to the total amount you are likely to owe upon graduation.

I'm curious whether schools are being upfront about the debt you will owe upon graduation when sending out the financial award letters. A lot of people have been looking at the cost of attendance projections we released in the Data Clearinghouse (--LinkRemoved--) and wondering why they're so much higher than what the schools are advertising. The short of it is that schools aren't required to calculate estimated cost of living increases or tuition bumps when estimating what it will cost for you to attend, nor do they have to factor in the interest which accrues during law school (usually at very high interest rates). We'd like to change this but first we need to know how far schools are going to mask what we call the 'true' estimated cost of their JD programs.

So what are people seeing in terms of total advertised costs? Keep it anonymous if you're still applying this cycle. And if anyone's willing to share the actual financial award letter from schools that have accepted you we'd appreciate looking at them... just send to lawschooltransparency@gmail.com. We promise to keep all sources confidential and redact any personally-identifiable information that may be contained in the letters. Also, we always welcome the help in case any TLSers want to assist in compiling this information. Aside from disclosing what the job prospects are like, we're also really concerned about making sure schools disclose what it costs you to go.

TL;DR: if a law school sent you a financial aid letter saying how much you'll owe, throw it in this thread or shoot us an email. Schools are lowballing the true costs of their programs but it will help if we know by how much.

[jenesaislaw]

tag

[Icculus]

Edited: Misread the original post.

[Mr. Pancakes]

thanks for your work.

[boredatwork]

How can in state coa at ASU be more than the non-discounted coa?

[jenesaislaw]

How can in state coa at ASU be more than the non-discounted coa?

Fixed. Figures got flipped.

[observationalist]

How can in state coa at ASU be more than the non-discounted coa?

Fixed. Figures got flipped.

That's a non-professional mistake for which a JD was not required.