Law Financial Aid

The Office of Law Financial Aid is committed to providing all law students financial aid assistance to keep you informed and explore all funding opportunities and resources.  

USF ID Number

In order to better assist law students and reply to your financial aid inquiries in a timely manner, please be sure to include your USF ID Number in any email inquiries to the Law Financial Aid Office.  In addition, any requests to update your financial aid record should come directly from your USF email account. We cannot process any requests for assistance sent from your personal email accounts.

Law Financial Aid Walk-in, Appointments (In-Person, Virtual)

The Law School’s Financial Aid Office is taking the necessary measures to implement and improve our customer service strategies. We want you to have the best experience with our office so we would like to provide information on new changes to our customer service support methods. 

Our office will be available for in-person visits and appointments as well as virtual appointments. Getting in-person assistance is easy.

You can schedule an appointment on the following methods below:

1.    Text USFDonsLAW to 415-914-9982 then text the code for the type of service you wish to receive help with.
2.    Day-to-day appointment. Make an appointment online through the Home Kiosk.   Enter your Name and phone number.
3.    Future virtual Appointments (24 hours and later) Here.

Debt Management Appointments

The School of Law has once again obtained the services of Dr. Jeffrey Hanson, a nationally recognized financial advisor, to virtually meet individually with our students (and their partners) in private counseling appointments (45 minutes), February 18, 19, 20 (Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday).


These appointments should reduce the stress associated with borrowing by equipping students with a financial action plan. Dr. Hanson will explain how to get the most out of your financial life (during and after law school), by providing you with loan repayment options and debt management advice. These appointments are extremely popular with medical and law students across the country.


Appointments are available to our students free of charge and are made on a first come, first serve basis. You can book appointments HERE. The schedule fills very quickly and there is no wait list, so if you’re interested please book as soon as possible. If you have any additional questions regarding the counseling appointments, please feel free to email me at lawfinaid@usfca.edu or call 415.422.6210.

Applying for Financial Aid/FAFSA Application for Fall 2025/Spring 2026

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA, for the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 academic year is now available online at https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa.  All students who wish to receive financial aid for the 2025-26 academic year are required to complete the new 2025-26 FAFSA at www.studentaid.gov.  Our Title IV code is 001325 and must be included in your FAFSA application.  

Financial Aid award notification for the Fall 2025/Spring 2026 will begin in early April for current students who have completed a 2025-26 FAFSA as long as the 2025-26 FAFSA is completed and USF receives your FAFSA information by the priority date March 1, 2025. Award information will be available to view online via your myUSF student portal. You will be sent an email notification at that time by the Law Financial Aid Office indicating that you can review your financial aid award online via your myUSF online student portal.

IMPORTANT: The 2025-26 FAFSA can be completed after March 1 priority deadline, and you will still be able to receive federal educational loan aid for this year. However, delaying completing your FAFSA will affect when you receive your award notice.  The FAFSA should be completed as soon as possible in order to receive the maximum financial aid consideration for 2025-26.

The FAFSA should be completed as soon as possible but no later than the priority date was March 1, 2025 in order to receive the maximum financial aid consideration for 2025-26 (this date is especially important for those continuing students who wish to be considered for the Federal Work Study award).

2024-25 FAFSA FILING

The Free Application for Federal Student Aid or FAFSA, for the Fall 2024 and Spring 2025 academic year is still available online.  All students who wish to receive financial aid for the 2024-25 academic year are required to complete the 2024-25 FAFSA at www.studentaid.gov.  Our Title IV code is 001325 and must be included in your FAFSA application.

NOTE: It is not too late to apply for federal loan aid for the 2024-25 academic year.  The priority deadline to apply for a 2024-25 FAFSA is April 1, 2025.   
 

Upcoming Private Scholarship Deadlines   

MELMED LAW GROUP, PC COLLEGIATE SCHOLARSHIP
The employment lawyers at Melmed Law Group P.C. proudly support the pursuit of success through higher education. We also understand that higher education can be a challenging financial investment for some, and we’d like to offer our support. To that end, our office offers an annual scholarship to one college student at the end of February of each year.
Deadline: February 15, 2025
Amount: $5,000

The Law Offices of W. Dan Mahoney, P.C. Law Scholarship
The Law Offices of W. Dan Mahoney, P.C. is excited to announce its annual scholarship for students who plan to attend school in the fall of 2025 as either a pre-law undergraduate or first-year law student. The $1,000 scholarship aims to assist with expenses for students accepted into a school anywhere in the United States.
Deadline: February 15, 2025
Amount: $1,000

Wind Law Scholarship
Wind Law, LLC is excited to announce its annual scholarship for students planning to attend school in the fall of 2024 as either a pre-law undergraduate or a first-year law student. The $1,000 scholarship aims to assist with expenses for students accepted into a school anywhere in the United States.
Deadline: February 15, 2025
Amount: $1,000

JABA Educational Foundation Scholarship
The Japanese American Bar Association ("JABA") Educational Foundation is pleased to offer up to four scholarships in the amount of $3,000 each.  Applications are currently being accepted from law students and recent law school graduates with a connection to the Japanese American and/or Asian/Pacific Islander (“API”) community who have a demonstrated commitment to community service.  Additional factors may include financial need, adversity, academic achievement, leadership, service to the Japanese American and/or API community, and present and/or potential future involvement with JABA and/or the JABA Educational Foundation. 
Deadline: February 17, 2025
Amount: $3,000

Keker, Van Nest & Peters Diversity Scholarship (First Year law students)
As part of our commitment to enhance that diversity, we invite qualified candidates to apply to our annual diversity scholars program. In recent years, we’ve awarded more than $300,000 in scholarship money to numerous recipients, who represent a range of diversity. This year, Keker, Van Nest & Peters will award up to $75,000 in scholarship grants, split among up to four recipients. The exact amount and number of scholarships will depend on the number, qualifications and financial needs of applicants.
Deadline: February 18, 2025
Amount: varies

Bowman and Brooke, Future Defense Lawyer Scholarship
The Bowman and Brooke Foundation has established a scholarship program to assist students currently enrolled in first year of Law School Studies (1L) who plan to enroll full-time at an ABA–accredited law school for the entire upcoming academic year.
Deadline: February 27, 2025
Amount: $5,000

Citywide Law Group Scholarship
Citywide Law Group is proud to offer a $1,500 scholarship to a current or aspiring law student. Los Angeles personal injury attorney Sherwin Arzani is a graduate of University of Michigan School of Law and has dedicated his career to helping accident victims.
Deadline: March 1, 2025
Amount: $1,500

Andrew Cores Family Law Group
Andrew Cores Family Law Group provides extensive trial experience and thoughtful legal counsel to our clients. The attorneys at our Illinois firm believe in investing resources and time into the legal community for the betterment of future generations of lawyers and the profession as a whole. Having dedicated our lives to the legal profession, the attorneys with Andrew Cores Family Law Group are excited to assist law students with expenses related to their college education. Each semester, the firm is offering an aspiring or current law student the opportunity to win $2,000 through the Andrew Cores Family Law Group Future Lawyers Scholarship.
Deadline: March 17, 2025
Amount: $2,000

Sidney B. Williams, Jr. Scholars Program (NEW Incoming Fall 2025 Student)
The Sidney B. Williams, Jr. Scholar Program, the Foundation’s Flagship DEI Initiative, Assists STEM-Educated Individuals seeking admission to an ABA-accredited law school with an interest in the advancement of racial or ethnic groups that are underrepresented in the patent law profession in the United States. The Scholar Program Offers Selected Scholars $30,000 Law School Tuition Grant Awards And Provides Financial And Non-Financial Assistance To Scholars During The Law School Admissions Process And Throughout Law School.
Amount: up to $30,000
Deadline: March 31, 2025

Sarita and Claire Wright Lucas Foundation Scholarship (Bar Takers)
Law school debt is well documented. What’s not so well known is the need for additional funds to prepare for the Bar exam. In addition to the cost of a prep course – at about $5,000 – many recent graduates must take out personal loans to cover living expenses as they take on the full-time, unpaid work of preparing for the exam. Unlike many law graduates who head to a private practice, those who choose to work for public agencies are on their own financially to prep for the Bar exam.  Those upfront initial costs are steep enough to steer people away from public sector legal work.
Deadline: March 31, 2025
Amount: $5,000
 

Legal Opportunity Scholarship
The American Bar Association (ABA) awards an annual Legal Opportunity Scholarship to first-year law students. The program's mission is to encourage racial and ethnic minority students to apply to law school and to provide financial assistance for them to attend and complete their legal education. The ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship grants $15,000 of financial aid to 20 - 25 incoming diverse law students over their three years in law school. Since its inception, the ABA Legal Opportunity Scholarship has benefitted more than 400 students from across the country.
Deadline: April 15, 2025
Amount: $5,000 to $15,000

Earl Warren Shearman & Sterling Scholarship
Earl Warren Shearman & Sterling Scholarships are two special stipends for African-American law students. The scholarship is sponsored by Shearman & Sterling, a large commercial law firm with offices in New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., and several foreign locations. Recipients are assigned attorney-mentors from the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund (LDF) and from Shearman & Sterling, and gain experience working with LDF on issues related to civil rights and public interest law.
Deadline: May 1, 2025
Amount: $15,000