NYU School of Law

OUR STUDENTS

The NYU School of Law, since its inception, has led the way in researching and applying forward-thinking methods for teaching prospective lawyers. Today, a student not only studies the law, but practices it in mock courtroom settings through our Lawyering Program—the first of its kind and now replicated at every fine law school—as well as out in the “real world” through our extensive clinical programs. There’s nothing hypothetical about this work to the clients who benefit directly from our students’ representation. At roundtable discussions, forums and conferences, students gain exposure to a greater variety of post-degree career choices than ever before. We seek to support these inspiring initiatives with your gifts.

The cost of legal education has skyrocketed. Even so, at the NYU School of Law we have made the conscious choice to spend from our unrestricted funding to soften the blow of tuition bills and to ensure that anyone who merits a spot in a class gets one. The law school’s tuition and fees in 2004 totaled a rather staggering $36,768. These rising costs operate as both a financial barrier to entry and a decisive factor for graduates in determining career choices. At the Law School, we remain committed to mitigating tuition costs; in recent years we have led the way in holding down our increases, even as tuition at other schools continued to soar and despite our relatively heavy reliance on this source of funding. (Please see chart on left side.)

Increasing the size of our endowment dedicated to funding student aid is of paramount importance in ensuring the continued success of tuition cost-control efforts and in offering an NYU School of Law education to the best and brightest students regardless of their ability to pay. We hope to dedicate additional resources to our already much-appreciated public interest programs—most notably the Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP) and public interest summer grants—to enable even more of our graduates to consider and choose less lucrative career routes if their priorities and goals lead them in that direction.

Scholarships
In 2005, we spent $10 million (9 percent of our expenditures) on student scholarships. Here are some of our current programs.

J.D. Scholarships:

The Root-Tilden-Kern Program
Provides support and academic programming for outstanding scholars who are committed to working in the public service. Established in 1951.

The An-Bryce Program
Provides support and programming for high-potential students with need who are the first in their families to attend graduate school. Established in 2003.

Furman Academic Program
Supports exceptional students who wish to become legal academics; provides post-graduate academic fellowships. Established in 2003.

Dean’s Scholarship Program
Assists in-need students, as well as students with extraordinary academic credentials.

Academic Specialization Scholarships
Supports programming for students with outstanding academic backgrounds and with interests in specific areas of the law, such as business, criminal, environmental or international law.

LL.M. Scholarships:

Wallace Tax Law Scholars
Supports outstanding scholars pursuing the LL.M. in Taxation.

Hauser Scholars and Research Scholars
Provides support and programming for the premier international candidates for the LL.M. degree, as well as granting stipends and fellowships to international legal academics.

Global Public Service Law Program
Provides support and programming for scholars from developing nations who want to pursue an LL.M. in Public Service Law.

Vanderbilt and Grotius Scholars
Provides support and programming for outstanding international students.

Public Interest Support
Starting salaries at corporate firms are now almost four times greater than positions in public interest agencies and government. (Please see chart below.) What used to be a small gap in pay is now a chasm. Consequently, a student who graduates with a heavy loan burden may not feel free to choose a public sector job. The NYU School of Law has been at the forefront of creating and funding programs, including most notably our LRAP program, to address this difficult economic reality. Over the past decade—due to our unflagging commitment of resources, as well as our leading Clinical Program and Public Interest Law Center—on average, we have yielded twice the number of graduates who head toward public interest careers as have our peers.

In addition to the renowned Root-Tilden-Kern Scholarships, the following make up the NYU School of Law’s premier public interest law offerings:

Public Interest Summer Grants Program
Guarantees funding to all students who pursue summer employment in the public service.

Loan Repayment Assistance Program (LRAP)
Helps graduates in public service careers by providing quarterly benefits, based upon recipients’ earnings and debt levels. LRAP is designed to assist them, in part or in full, in servicing their Law School debt.

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