My Experience Successfully Negotiating Stipend w/Fullride Forum

[duallys21]

I wanted to post this up here because when I started this cycle there was very little information about how people have successfully negotiated cost-of-living stipends. I have benefited from various guides on TLS, especially about scholarship negotiation, so I wanted to contribute to that body of knowledge.

I was recently informed that my local state school (ranked in the top 50) has decided to award me an additional $5,000/year on top of my full tuition scholarship. Here is how this came about:

1) I went to ASD and met people
2) A few days after ASD, I sent a nice email asking for $10,000 a year extra, explaining my commitment to public interest law (which is real), and explaining how borrowing the recommended amount for cost of living would still leave me with tons of debt that would be difficult to pay back on PI salary
3) A Dean got back to me asking to speak on the phone, we arranged a time for a phone conversation, and they said basically that they were maxed out on money but they would keep my request in mind/ask around.
4) I put together a spreadsheet and document detailing what would happen under various payment plans given different levels of debt for COL. My goal was to show how a relatively small COL stipend would make a big difference in how easy it would be for me to pay off my loans - they again said they might not be able to do anything but would take my requests into consideration
5) After this I followed up several times "just want to check-in...", emphasized the reasons I wanted to go to this school, emphasized things like the changing nature of the legal market, low PI salaries in my expected field, and so forth. Along the way I also was honest about my other options (T14 acceptances etc.) but made sure that I didn't come across as arrogant and made sure to say a lot of (true) nice things about the school I was targeting.
6) got $$$

I think that the main thing that helped me during this process is that I was right and knew it (largely thanks to lurking here)- given the current state of the legal market, people going to regional schools really should get paid to do it, at least if they are targeting public interest or small-law or whatever. I believe that as much as my school wanted to 'buy my numbers' (GPA <75th, LSAT >>75th) or whatever they also recognized that my concerns about the financial cost were totally legitimate given the schools placement power.

So ask, and maybe get money!

[xylocarp]

you can find me at www.top-law-schools.com!