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I was recently accepted into a school and offered a full tuition scholarship – yay! I kind of assumed that was the best I could do. But then I was looking on LSN and saw that other people with numbers close to mine had been offered more than what would equal full tuition – obviously, there is some sort of stipend option. Can someone explain what this is? If they offer you more than full tuition are they giving you cash? Even with all of my tuition covered I’m still going to have to take out loans to cover my living expenses – if there is a way to lessen those loans I would definitely be interested!

The second part of this is, how do I negotiate up from a full tuition offer? How do I basically say “thanks for all that money, but it’s not enough” without sounding like an ungrateful awful person?

Any advice is appreciated!

amdlv wrote:I was recently accepted into a school and offered a full tuition scholarship – yay! I kind of assumed that was the best I could do. But then I was looking on LSN and saw that other people with numbers close to mine had been offered more than what would equal full tuition – obviously, there is some sort of stipend option. Can someone explain what this is? If they offer you more than full tuition are they giving you cash? Even with all of my tuition covered I’m still going to have to take out loans to cover my living expenses – if there is a way to lessen those loans I would definitely be interested!

The second part of this is, how do I negotiate up from a full tuition offer? How do I basically say “thanks for all that money, but it’s not enough” without sounding like an ungrateful awful person?

Any advice is appreciated!

Also interested in this.

amdlv wrote:If they offer you more than full tuition are they giving you cash?

Yes, although in the past I am aware that some schools just offered University housing (GWU).

amdlv wrote:The second part of this is, how do I negotiate up from a full tuition offer? How do I basically say “thanks for all that money, but it’s not enough” without sounding like an ungrateful awful person?

Some schools have special applications for those scholarships. At some schools, those scholarships are allocated only to people with certain non-score criteria (e.g., public interest background, graduation from particular undergraduate school). At some schools, those scholarships are awarded strictly based on LSAT and UGPA.

With some diligence, you should be able to find out if the school offers stipend scholarships, and for what purpose, without contacting the school directly. Search the forums here. Google, etc. Contact someone on LSN and ask. Then you can have more info before you call the school and beg.

Or just ask the school. Tell the school you read online that it offers partial living / book / whatever stipends to some students. Ask how someone qualifies or if there is a separate scholarship application. Ask if you can be considered, I guess.

You're really not "negotiating" if all you're doing is asking for a handout. If you have a comparable offer from a similar school, then you can mention your other offer. If it's clear to the school you're going to attend anyway, I imagine it would have have little incentive to bump your scholarship.