Paying for Law School... put me at ease? Forum

[DanInALionsDen]

For starters, I have 171 lsat and a 3.73 lsdas gpa, probably about a 3.77 once I send in my fall transcripts. I get full need based financial aid at my undergraduate institution, my Estimated Family Contribution on my FAFSA is 0. My mother only makes like 25k/year, and my dad and I aren't really in contact. I don't report his salary on my FAFSA because he and my mother got divorced when I was 2, he hasn't claimed me as a dependent on his taxes since that time, and he doesn't support me financially, nor has he ever. Will law schools request information on his income? Will they factor it in for financial aid? I don't even know if I could get the information from him...

Also, being 21 with government subsidized loans and some credit card debt, my credit sucks... will I be able to get loans for law school? Do they all require an applicant to be "credit worthy," or are there some that do not check?

Any insight would be very helpful.

[interestedbyestander]

Those numbers will put you in very good running for a free ride at GW next year (apply ED). It's too late for this year there.

[bahama]

Some places will prob ask about your father's income but if you contact the fin aid office and explain things it shouldn't be an issue.

How do you know you have bad credit? Debt doesn't = bad credit, it is not making payments that you agreed to that trashes your credit. There are credit requirements for GradPlus loans (I think it is you can not be currently delinquent on anything) which you will almost certainly need to take out to cover what stafford doesn't.

[Aeroplane]

Figure out whether your father's info will be required ASAP. One of my friends had to start UG an entire year later because the info was required and her long-ago-divorced-and-not-supporting father, whom she gave plenty of notice, delayed in providing his information.

[acrossthepond]

My parents divorced when I was 2 as well - if your Dad does not claim you as a dependent you do not have to claim his income. Also, if you haven't lived with him in years, you don't have to claim him. He isn't considered part of your household. At least this is what FAFSA told me back in 2004. I have never had to claim mine's income.

[Anonymous Loser]

For the purposes of federal financial aid, graduate students are considered independent. Simply put, when it comes to federal educational lending, no one cares about your father's income.

A handful of schools might require parental information in order to determine eligibility for need-based institutional loans or grants. Few schools provide such funding, so this is really a non-issue for most students.

[freeflowfox]

For some schools you need to fill out a needaccess application to be considered for need based aid, and some of them will require you to provide parental financial information. Salary information is required, but there are boxes for marital status and dependency status claim on taxes.