Stanford Law offers financial aid to assist students who would otherwise be unable to pursue a legal education at SLS. Approximately 75-80 percent of the student body receives a tuition fellowship or loan assistance, with the average fellowship portion per recipient totaling $25,000 to $28,000 annually. Aid is awarded on the basis of demonstrated need and is provided through a combination of tuition fellowships, government guaranteed loans and private loans.
To apply for financial aid, please complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and the CSS Profile application. The FAFSA should be completed as soon as possible after January 1. A service of the U.S. Department of Education, FAFSA is free to all applicants. Please note that the Title IV School Code for Stanford Law School is E00341 and our CSS Profile code is 7832.
In general, the financial award system operates as follows:
- Each year the school determines a standard budget to cover basic costs (tuition plus living expenses).
- Each student’s need is calculated by subtracting reported resources from the standard budget. These resources include one-third of reported assets; 57% of summer gross earnings over $8,000; assumed earnings of spouse (if married); and an imputed parental contribution (based on the CSS Profile analysis) if the student is dependent.
- Each student is then expected to borrow or otherwise raise a portion of this need, with the remainder being an outright grant, subject to a limit of full tuition.
- Financial aid is evaluated annually. Therefore, one cannot be guaranteed the same level of aid over three years of attendance.
Stanford Law School uses an age-based test to determine the dependency percentage from your parent contribution. Unless you are at least 29 years of age as of September 1, financial resource information from your parents must be submitted on the CSS Profile application. Parental information is never required on the FAFSA for graduate students.
Under our policy guidelines, the following rules apply:
- If you are 25 or younger as of September 1, we will take into consideration the full extent of our calculated parental contribution when determining your eligibility for our need-based scholarship assistance.
- If you are 26 as of September 1, we will protect 25% of your calculated parental contribution and use only 75% of that contribution when determining your eligibility for our need-based scholarship assistance.
- If you are 27 as of September 1, we will protect 50% of your calculated parental contribution and use only 50% of that contribution when determining your eligibility for our need-based scholarship assistance.
- If you are 28 as of September 1, we will protect 75% of your calculated parental contribution and use only 25% of that contribution when determining your eligibility for our need-based scholarship assistance.
- If you are at least 29 as of September 1, no parental resources are considered when determining your eligibility for our need-based scholarship assistance. Therefore, you need not submit any parental financial information to CSS Profile and can enter $0 into application in order to complete.
Loans available to law students come primarily from two governmental programs: Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loans, and Federal Direct Graduate Plus Loans. All graduate and professional students are independent for purposes of determining federal loan eligibility.
Additional financial aid information is provided in the School’s Financial Aid Handbook.
2023-2024 FINANCIAL AID HANDBOOK Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) CSS Profile Application