Possible to get third party scholarships for law school? Forum

[nitr0x99]

I don't know if 'third party' is the correct term or not, but I mean grants that are not awarded through FAFSA or from the law school itself. I am referring to scholarships you can find on websites like 'fastweb' and things of that nature. Has anyone ever had success with that? It seems as though websites like fastweb are so generic that nobody ever really has success with getting a scholarship from there.

I'm just trying to explore every avenue possible to get funding

[existenz]

You can try, but it is usually quite difficult.

I used this search engine provided by the Dept. of Education:

http://studentaid2.ed.gov/getmoney/scholarship/

But nearly all of the scholarships were very specialized. Many of them depended on your parents' occupation. For example, children of cops and firefighters have lots of scholarships to choose from. If one of your parents died in war there are scholarships for you. Members of various clubs and societies, etc. My parents are a nurse and teacher, and I'm not an ethnic minority, so I didn't qualify for squat.

[TTH]

I don't know if 'third party' is the correct term or not, but I mean grants that are not awarded through FAFSA or from the law school itself. I am referring to scholarships you can find on websites like 'fastweb' and things of that nature. Has anyone ever had success with that? It seems as though websites like fastweb are so generic that nobody ever really has success with getting a scholarship from there.

I'm just trying to explore every avenue possible to get funding

Call your schools financial aid office. In some states, local bar associations, inns of court, and even firms may have small scholarships they award to students attending the state's flagship law school.

[scionb4]

When I was applying for third party scholarships for undergrad through FastWeb, I would say a good 70% of them were exclusively for underrepresented minorities (in most cases Hispanics/African Americans/ and Native Americans), a good portion of them were specifically for women (which makes no sense considering women make up a majority of the college population, but whatever) and then a lot of them were geographically locked (ie. you had to from a certain county in rural Indiana or something). Very few seemed to be wide open. If you fit one of these categories, more power to you, go for broke. Otherwise, you'll most likely end up like I did: spending a week writing scholarship essays and getting not a single response back.

[devilishangelrjp]

I don't know if 'third party' is the correct term or not, but I mean grants that are not awarded through FAFSA or from the law school itself. I am referring to scholarships you can find on websites like 'fastweb' and things of that nature. Has anyone ever had success with that? It seems as though websites like fastweb are so generic that nobody ever really has success with getting a scholarship from there.

I'm just trying to explore every avenue possible to get funding

I've heard from schools that there are no such things as grants in graduate and professional school. It is an undergrad word. All you've got are scholarships and loans and maybe some personal savings (yeah, right).

That said, there are a few scholarships outside that you can get. I've never won anything from FastWeb or scholarships.com, but I suppose you could look into it. I know it's easier if you're a URM to get outside scholarships for law, but even then, it's not quite that easy.

[sibley]

I don't know if 'third party' is the correct term or not, but I mean grants that are not awarded through FAFSA or from the law school itself. I am referring to scholarships you can find on websites like 'fastweb' and things of that nature. Has anyone ever had success with that? It seems as though websites like fastweb are so generic that nobody ever really has success with getting a scholarship from there.

I'm just trying to explore every avenue possible to get funding

I've heard from schools that there are no such things as grants in graduate and professional school. It is an undergrad word. All you've got are scholarships and loans and maybe some personal savings (yeah, right).

That said, there are a few scholarships outside that you can get. I've never won anything from FastWeb or scholarships.com, but I suppose you could look into it. I know it's easier if you're a URM to get outside scholarships for law, but even then, it's not quite that easy.

Fellowships are the closest graduate version, I'd say.

[twintipping_bumps]

It is pouring rain here in Boston to such an extent that I was soaked while even using an umbrella when I went out to get an egg sandwich, so I am finally buckling down this afternoon and dedicating it to looking for these and applying. I've seen a few on the sites that schools that accepted me recommend. Has anyone found any other helpful lists?

[Olive]

It is pouring rain here in Boston to such an extent that I was soaked while even using an umbrella when I went out to get an egg sandwich, so I am finally buckling down this afternoon and dedicating it to looking for these and applying. I've seen a few on the sites that schools that accepted me recommend. Has anyone found any other helpful lists?

Try this: http://www.admissionsdean.com/paying_for_law_school

(Hopefully I don't get banned for this. )

[Mr. Pablo]

Many of the '3rd party' scholarships for law students are for people who can demonstrate they have/are currently overcome/ing challenges or hardships. I tried to find LGBT money, but as it turns out because my parents were loving and supportive I don't really qualify for any of it. If they had beat me and thrown me out on the street then I could probably go to school for free.
Terrible life = cash for school. If you have been at the wrong end of the circumstantial stick, then go for it- people want to help you.

Also, there are a lot of religious organizations that offer scholarship money if you are an active member of that community.

[evilxs]

Not so much true anymore. I have had a truly rough go of it. I was turned down for overcoming hardships because I was not a URM. I was told that was the only reason, otherwise I would have gotten it. Anymore even overcoming ridiculous odds doesn't mean much.