Useless for me to apply for fee waiver? Forum

[tmon]

I think I personally qualify for a fee waiver, but it looks like I have to enter my parents' info, which I think would likely disqualify me easily. I worked for Americorps from June of 2010 through last month, and that salary is pegged right around the poverty level. I do have some savings (<4000) which I assume would hurt, but I'm currently not working and not sure on job prospects, so it's not like the money's just sitting there. My parents are divorced; my mom probably doesn't have much income compared to debt because of recently going back to school to change career paths and my dad is doing well enough with a contracting business he co-runs. I don't get monetary support from them though.

Should I even apply, or is it a useless endeavor?

[Horsefeathers]

What about merit-based fee waivers? Probably no harm in applying for these.

[moleculex17]

What about merit-based fee waivers? Probably no harm in applying for these.

+1. It never hurts.

[tmon]

It was my understanding that school-issued waivers generally come later in the cycle. I'm taking the LSAT in October and planning on sending apps as soon as I have a score. Wouldn't that plan interfere? As much as it'll really kill my savings, the better chance of getting into my target schools is worth it, considering the debt I'll be taking on regardless.

[Bildungsroman]

Does it cost money to apply for an LSAC need-based fee waiver? If not, why the fuck wouldn't you apply if you think there's even a small chance?

[Horsefeathers]

Yeah - you certainly need to wait on that LSAT score before requesting a merit waiver. But in my experience, schools generally either: A)Quickly reject your request B)Quickly grant you a waiver C)Ignore your email altogether.

So in my mind, there'd be no reason not to just send out merit-waiver requests immediately after getting your score (provided you're meritorious enough with that score), and then waiting a few days for responses before applying.

To me, the chance of waivers > a few days' advantage in October. Submitting apps on October 25 instead of October 22nd just won't matter.

As for when schools initiate waivers - I think it really varies. Some TTTTs are already sending out waivers for 2011-2012.

[tmon]

Does it cost money to apply for an LSAC need-based fee waiver? If not, why the fuck wouldn't you apply if you think there's even a small chance?

Yeah, that's probably TCR here. I basically just pulled up the application tonight and saw I had to include parent info and was annoyed. It's just annoying that a dependent with no income, coming off a really low paying job, probably wont have much chance at a fee waiver because of the application.

[JDndMSW]

FWIW if you search around on here you will find that there are some AmeriCorps alum who have be successful on getting fee waivers just for being an alum. I plan to try and use this approach.