Financing your Legal Education at CWRU School of Law

Understanding Your Financial Responsibilities

Pursuit of a legal education will require a significant investment of your various resources – including both time and money.   We want to provide you information to help you understand the financial investment that is required of you as a CWRU Law Student.

In addition to the information presented here, our admissions officers can assist you with general questions regarding financial matters.  Also, our law school has a special office which assists both enrolled and prospective students in understanding and managing the financial responsibilities of being a law student, including the process of applying for student loans. 

Please feel free to contact the Law Student Financial Services Office if you have any questions regarding finances that are not answered in these pages. 


CWRU Law Student Financial Services Office
Phone: 216-368-3602 or (toll-free) 1-877-889-4279
E-mail: lawmoney@case.edu

Cost of a Legal Education at Case Law School

The costs indicated here are for the 2012-2013 school year.

Costs Paid Directly to Case
Tuition	$44,500
Tuition per credit hour	$1,854 per credit hour
Student Activities Fee	$120
Health Insurance (student coverage)	$1,550
Associated Costs Paid to Others
Books and supplies (estimated, will vary)	$1,600
Living Expenses (estimated, will vary)	$17,530 (nine-month budget)
Meal Plans
All students, whether they live on or off campus, may choose to participate in a university meal plan. In 2012–2013 meal plans start at $3190 per year.
Parking and Transportation
Student parking permits range in cost, depending on the location of the assigned lot. Free shuttle busses operate day and night on a regular schedule around the campus.

Types of Assistance

CWRU Law School offers two types of financial assistance to students enrolling in the JD program:

1. Merit-based Scholarships
2. Student Loans

1. Scholarship Programs

CWRU Law School offers a number of scholarships programs for admitted students who display outstanding credentials for success in the legal profession.

Thanks to the strong support of our alumni, we are able to award significant scholarships to approximately one-third of each entering class. Every applicant with an exceptionally strong record is considered for a scholarship; candidates who apply for admission before February 1 have a greater chance of receiving an award. We renew scholarships as long as the student maintains academic good standing. Transfer applicants are not eligible for scholarship consideration.

View the Scholarship Terms and Conditions here.

The various scholarship programs that we offer are:

• Dean's Scholars
  Up to ten full-tuition scholarships may be offered each year. These are funded by Northeast Ohio law firms and friends of the law school.
• Distinguished Scholar Awards
  Approximately 50 partial tuition scholarships are awarded each year. These range from $5,000 to $26,000.
• Leadership Grants
  These are awarded to students with unique backgrounds whose records demonstrate leadership qualities and who will enrich the diversity of the student body.
• Law-Medicine Scholarships
  Each year, several entering first-year students are selected to receive a merit-based, partial tuition Law-Medicine Scholarship, based on their background, experience, and interest in pursuing a career in health law.
• Law-Medicine Fellowships
  Up to two entering first-year law students are awarded a Law-Medicine Fellowship, which provides a merit-based combination of scholarship aid and a position as a summer research assistant for a faculty member working in the health law field.

Scholarship application process:
Once you are admitted to our program, you will be automatically considered for all of our scholarship programs. There is no special application form or process that you need to complete for scholarship consideration. Since merit is the sole criterion for our scholarship programs, you do not need to provide any personal financial information to the school for this consideration. We strive to have all scholarship offers made by March 31.

There are a number of loan programs, both federal and private, that can help you meet your educational expenses. All loans must be repaid once you are no longer enrolled in school. The loans can be used to meet any/or all of the established cost of attendance. It is possible to borrow funds for both the direct tuition expenses, as well as for reasonable living expenses that are not already covered by a scholarship or financial support from relatives.

To be considered for a loan, you must complete the financial aid application process.

We encourage you to begin the financial aid application soon after you've been admitted to our school, because it may take up to three months to complete the entire process. To have funds available early in the fall semester, you should start the application process by the end of June. To be eligible for most loan programs, you must be a citizen or permanent resident of the United States.

Loan Application Process

February 2012
We will automatically email financial aid application materials to all applicants, along with extensive instructions.

By May 1, 2012
Complete a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). This form, which is used to determine a student's eligibility for the various loan programs, may be completed on-line anytime after January 1. Paper versions of the FAFSA are available from public libraries and college financial aid offices. List "Case Western Reserve University-LAW" as a school to which you would like an analysis report sent (Federal School Code E00082).

By May 1, 2012
Submit the CWRU Financial Aid Application Form. Students who have been admitted and have submitted all documents by May 1 can expect to receive a notice of loan eligibility by end of June.
Student loans can be used only to fund specific educational expenses, including reasonable living expenses which are incurred while the student is enrolled in school. The student loan budget, sometimes called cost of attendance, includes tuition and fees, room and board, books and supplies, transportation, and an allowance for personal incidental expenses. Loan funds can be used for these expenses only to the extent that they are not already covered by scholarship or support that you receive from your relatives.

The student loan budget is determined by the university's financial aid office, based on an estimate of your various educational expenses, as listed above. You are not able to receive student loan funds in excess of the student loan budget, regardless of the type of loan or the source of the specific loan funds. It must be noted that loan budget is not designed to replace income that a student may have been earning before entering law school. Also, it is not designed to fund discretionary purchases that a student incurs before or during law school (such as car payments or credit card payments, vacations, support of a spouse).

Under current federal law, all law students are considered independent for purposes of qualifying for federal loan programs. For purposes of qualifying for certain law school funds, however, you may be required to submit information about parental income.

Many federal and private loans are available; some are based on a student's demonstrated financial need, others are not. As you prepare for your legal education, you should also begin now to establish yourself as creditworthy. When you apply for a loan, the lender will conduct a credit check: the requirements are stringent. The best way to avoid problems with securing loans is to pay bills when due and not to ignore delinquency notices. Students who anticipate a problem may want to review a copy of their credit report, available from one of the three major credit reporting agencies: Experian, TransUnion, and Equifax.


Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP)
Open to J.D. graduates licensed to practice law and who are making substantial use of their legal training to provide services that are in the public interest, the LRAP program pays a certain percentage of the awardees' monthly loan payment. Once funded, a recipient may apply for renewal of funding for up to eight years, provided that they maintain eligibility. Since its inception, LRAP has provided loan repayment assistance to more than 85 alumni.

Saul S. Biskind Public Interest Fellowships
This fellowship program provides stipends to students and graduates pursuing careers in public interest law.