Law School Scholarship Estimator

How the estimate works

We call it the Class-Position Method. It uses only numbers each school publishes in its Standard 509 report, and it runs the same way for every school.

1. Your place in the class. For your LSAT and for your GPA separately, we place your number on the school's 25th, 50th and 75th percentiles for its full-time entering class, along straight lines between them: the 25th percentile is position 25, the median 50 and the 75th percentile 75. Below the 25th or above the 75th, the line keeps the slope of the nearest segment, and positions stay between 0 and 99. Then we average the two positions with equal weight. Schools do not publish how they weigh the LSAT against the GPA, so equal weight is a simplification.
2. The school's grant curve. We assume that merit aid rises with class position. If a given share of the school's full-time students had a grant, the rest of the class, at the bottom, gets none. The school's 25th, 50th and 75th percentile grants sit a quarter, half and three quarters of the way through the students with a grant. The share with full tuition or more, at the top, gets full tuition and fees. Straight lines join these points; the curve never goes down and never goes above tuition and fees. The ABA does not say whether the grant percentiles are among all students or only those with a grant; the amounts fit the second reading, so that is how we use them.
3. Your grant range. We read the curve 10 positions below and above your position for a range, and at your position for a typical figure, rounded to the nearest $500.
4. Net tuition. The school's first-year tuition and mandatory fees minus the grant range, never below $0. The three-year figure is three times one year, with no tuition increases assumed. Living costs are shown separately.
5. Target LSAT. At your GPA, the lowest LSAT score from 120 to 180 whose typical estimate reaches at least 95% of tuition and fees. If no score does, the estimate says it is not reachable on numbers alone at that GPA.

A worked example: University of Alabama

Take an applicant with a 165 LSAT and a 3.90 GPA, and University of Alabama's 2025 Standard 509 report.

• For the full-time class entering in fall 2025, the LSAT 165 is between the 25th and 50th percentiles (161 / 167 / 168), at position 42; the GPA 3.90 is between the 25th and 50th percentiles (3.76 / 3.97 / 4.05), at position 42. The average is position 42.
• In 2024-25, 380 of the school's 395 full-time students (96%) had a grant and 100 (25%) had full tuition or more. Its 25th, 50th and 75th percentile grants were $12,000 / $21,500 / $30,000.
• Reading the curve at positions 32, 42 and 52 gives an estimated grant of $13,500 to $21,500 a year, typically $17,500.
• Tuition and fees for 2025-26 are $25,879 for residents and $48,999 for nonresidents, so the estimated net tuition is $4,500 to $12,500 a year for a resident ($13,500 to $37,000 over three years) and $27,500 to $35,500 a year for a nonresident.
• The target LSAT for the full-tuition range at a 3.90 GPA is 169 at the resident rate; at the nonresident rate it is not reachable on numbers alone at this GPA.

What the labels mean

Full-tuition range

The top of your estimated grant range reaches the school's tuition and mandatory fees (“at the resident rate” when only the lower, resident price is reached).

Conditional scholarships: X of Y reduced or eliminated

Of the Y students entering in 2024-25 with a scholarship the school can reduce or take away for grades, X had theirs reduced or eliminated, as the school reported.

Admission uncertain

Your LSAT or your GPA is below the school's 25th percentile.

Splitter

Your LSAT and GPA positions are more than 30 points apart, so equal weighting matters more.

Tuition estimated from a per-credit rate

33 schools publish tuition per credit hour for at least one rate. We count a year as one third of the credits required for the J.D.

Grant counts do not add up as published

The school's own counts disagree (for example, more students with a grant than students). We show them as published; the estimate counts recipients as the larger of the published number and the size bands added up, never more than all students.

What the estimate cannot see

• It is an estimate from class-wide published numbers, not an offer. Schools do not publish award formulas, and many also weigh need, essays and other factors.
• The grant figures cover every full-time J.D. student in 2024-25, not only new students, and include need-based aid as well as merit awards. Some schools give need-based aid only: Yale Law School, for example, says it gives no merit-based scholarships. Check each school's financial-aid page.
• The figures come from different years: the class profile is for fall 2025, grants for 2024-25 and tuition for 2025-26.
• The LSAT percentiles count only entrants admitted with an LSAT score, not those admitted with the GRE.
• It covers full-time programs only. Part-time students' grants and tuition differ.

Sources

1. American Bar Association. Standard 509 compilation, 2025: “First Year Class” (all schools, spreadsheet). Retrieved October 26, 2026. https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GetAllCompilationData?year=2025&scetionName=First%20Year%20ClassUsed for: Full-time entering class: 25th, 50th and 75th percentile LSAT and UGPA, and class size.
2. American Bar Association. Standard 509 compilation, 2025: “Grants and Scholarships” (all schools, spreadsheet). Retrieved October 26, 2026. https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GetAllCompilationData?year=2025&scetionName=Grants%20and%20ScholarshipsUsed for: Full-time students, students with any grant, students by grant size, and the 25th, 50th and 75th percentile grants.
3. American Bar Association. Standard 509 compilation, 2025: “Tuitions and Fees/Living Expenses/Cond. Scholarships” (all schools, spreadsheet). Retrieved October 26, 2026. https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GetAllCompilationData?year=2025&scetionName=Tuitions%20and%20Fees%2FLiving%20Expenses%2FCond.%20ScholarshipsUsed for: First-year tuition and fees (annual or per credit), the off-campus living budget, and conditional scholarship counts.
4. American Bar Association. Standard 509 compilation, 2025: “The Basics/Academic Calendar” (all schools, spreadsheet). Retrieved October 26, 2026. https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GetAllCompilationData?year=2025&scetionName=The%20Basics%2FAcademic%20CalendarUsed for: Public or private, and the credits required for the J.D. (for per-credit tuition).
5. Each law school. Its own 2025 Standard 509 Information Report (PDF), for example the University of Alabama's. Checked October 26, 2026. https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/GenerateIndividualDisclosure509Report?schoolId=2&year=2025Used for: The official source of every per-school number on this page; each table row and result links its school’s report.
6. American Bar Association. Standard 509 Data Guide (definitions of each section). Checked October 26, 2026. https://backend.abarequireddisclosures.org/api/AnnualQuestionnaire/DownloadAQInstructionsUsed for: What the grant bands, grant percentiles, full tuition and conditional scholarships mean, and the year each section covers.
7. American Bar Association. Managing Director’s Guidance Memo on Standard 509 (revised April 2024). Checked October 26, 2026. https://www.americanbar.org/content/dam/aba/administrative/legal_education_and_admissions_to_the_bar/guidance-memos/24-april-guidance-memo-standard-509.pdfUsed for: Which figures schools must publish, and that the report is due by December 15 each year.
8. American Bar Association. ABA Required Disclosures (every school’s reports). Checked October 26, 2026. https://www.abarequireddisclosures.org/Used for: Where to browse each school’s Standard 509, employment and bar passage reports.
9. LSAC. Transcript Summarization (Credential Assembly Service). Checked October 26, 2026. https://www.lsac.org/applying-law-school/jd-application-process/cas/requesting/transcript-summarizationUsed for: LSAC converts every applicant’s grades to one scale, on which an A+ counts 4.33, and its GPA can differ slightly from a transcript’s.
10. Yale Law School. How Need-Based Aid Works. Checked October 26, 2026. https://law.yale.edu/admissions/cost-financial-aid/how-need-based-aid-worksUsed for: An example of a school that gives no merit-based scholarships.

The schools supply these figures and the ABA publishes them; the ABA takes no responsibility for errors in them. Think Clearly Prep is not affiliated with or endorsed by the American Bar Association, LSAC or any law school. The class positions, grant curve, ranges and targets are our own method; how the data is refreshed each year is documented with the site's code.